Between Friends at Malory Towers
by Eijentu
Summary: Malory Towers series. Alicia and Betty have always been ready with a sharp word for Gwen. But one warm summer evening, their jibes start a malicious chain of events no-one could have expected. Yuri/Femmeslash.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER:** All characters and story arcs of the Malory Towers series are property of Enid Blyton, her subsequent Estate, and the associated publishing house. In other words, not me.

**AUTHOR NOTE:** Please rest assured that this story is about girls in romantic situations – and, golly, some of them might even be in love! :) If you think that might be too much for you, then to quote Darrell Rivers, "Buzz off!"

I would like to mention my complete and utter admiration for Kanna-Ophelia's Malory Towers stories (some of which are archived on this site). These have been a source of inspiration to me while writing this fic, and I encourage anyone who hasn't to go read them now.

Some might notice that this chapter bears some similarity to one which takes place halfway through _Upper Fourth at Malory Towers_. In truth, the scene in question sparked many ideas for this chapter, but not quite as it was or where it was. To create a suitable starting point for the story, this chapter was adapted from the original scene.

All feedback will be most gratefully received. On with the story.

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The whole affair had blown up over one of the usual jibes about Gwen. Term was drawing to a close and it was an unusually warm evening. The light sky following dinner was a sure sign of summer approaching. The girls were sitting in the courtyard, each gradually finishing her prep and setting books aside to stretch on the still warm pavers.

"That's that done," Darrell remarked, dropping her pen and flexing her aching palm. "I should think Mam'zelle will soon run out of French poetry if she sets so much at once."

Sally nodded, having finished just a moment before Darrell. "I expect she'll start on literature then," she said.

"Don't tempt fate," Belinda muttered darkly from across the courtyard.

Silence fell once again on the group. Alicia, who had long since finished, was lying flat on her back, arms crossed behind her head and eyes shut. She disliked these occasions when the others were still working and she had to keep quiet. They were altogether too frequent, and Darrell was not one to allow her to slip off and do as she liked.

As a fourth former, Alicia resented the restriction, but she also knew that constant defiance of the rule would only strain her friendship with the quick-tempered head girl. It had happened before, and looking back, Alicia wasn't particularly proud of the way she had behaved on those occasions. So she stifled a sigh and tried not to feel bored when she felt two hands over her shut eyes.

"No prizes for guessing."

Alicia grinned at the sound of the familiar voice, and caught the hands, pulling them back. She stared up into Betty's wicked laughing dark eyes.

"What are you doing out here?" Alicia asked, pleased. Betty settled herself on the ground beside her.

"I finished prep, and saw you through the window. Told Pat I needed to see Williams, so she let me out. Easy."

Betty sat back against the low wall which lined the courtyard, prompting Alicia to pull herself up and do the same. What a piece of luck that Betty should have thought to slip out early! Leaning against the other girl, Alicia caught sight of Sally and Darrell chatting across the courtyard and a thought struck her.

"We'd better keep it quiet all the same. I do recall Darrell got a terrible glint in her eye last time you sat out with us."

Betty chuckled quietly at the memory. "Yes, that's right!" She observed the girl in question, sitting relaxed in the warmth of the evening. "Still, it looks like she's finished her prep this time."

Alicia surveyed the group scattered around the small paved area. Darrell and Sally were talking quietly, their books now stacked neatly together. Further round sat Clarissa and Bill, heads together as both worked silently on finishing the set passages. The pair surely wanted to fit in one last ride before dark. The twins sat together, of course. Ruth was helping Connie, the dreadful tension between them now gone.

A little to the left sat Irene, frowning heavily over her textbook, and beside her, Belinda. The girl's quick motions across the page, coupled with a mischievous smile, suggested her mind was on something other than French poetry. Curious, Alicia followed Belinda's eye line to see Gwendoline, sitting not far from herself. The golden-haired girl had a look of petulant concentration on her face as she tackled her prep, oblivious to Belinda's quick eye and even quicker pencil.

Alicia nudged Betty and both girls grinned at the scene.

"Of course, some aren't even halfway through yet," Alicia remarked in a sly voice.

Gwendoline, who had been pondering a way to copy Mary-Lou's prep, heard the jibe and looked up sharply. She scowled at the sight of Alicia, already finished with her work and casually reclining with Betty.

"Shut up! Some of us are trying to work."

Gwen hated it when Alicia's sharp tongue targeted her, as it so often did, because she lacked the other girl's quick wit to respond to the jibes. So she scowled even harder, unaware of the look of pure delight on Belinda's face as her pencil flew across the page.

"You're in fine form tonight, Gwen!" The artist called across to the oblivious girl. "Three scowls in the past ten minutes!"

Gwen caught sight of the hated sketchbook and tossed her head in anger. 'Beast!' she thought. 'She only does it to show off.' It never occurred to Gwen that Belinda had a genuine talent to be admired. Unless a thing cast her in a good light, the girl simply had no interest in it.

Having heard Belinda call out, Irene looked up from her work. On the surface she was a complete scatterbrain, useless with the most simple of tasks, yet the depths of her mind were pure genius. The French passages should have been easy for her, but that particular afternoon she had a new composition in her head that was begging to be written down. Irene simply couldn't concentrate on anything else and so had been struggling with her prep for the past hour.

She grinned as she glanced across at her friend, glad of the distraction. "I think that might be your best sketch of Gwen yet".

"Oh, let's see, Belinda!" Betty said as she stood, crossing to where Belinda and Irene sat. A wicked grin appeared on her face as she held the sketchbook in her hands, marvelling at Belinda's talent. Sure enough, there was Gwendoline Mary captured in clever detail as she sulked through her prep and scowled at Alicia. Betty laughed again, crossing back across the courtyard with the book, and Gwendoline shot her a furious look.

"You're not even supposed to be here, Betty! Shut up and let us work!"

"You're about the only one still working, Gwen dear," Alicia said smoothly as she admired the sketches over Betty's shoulder. Both girls were once again seated by the wall.

Hearing the beginnings of a heated argument, Darrell looked up. She immediately spotted the scowl on Gwendoline's face, then glanced across at Belinda when she heard one of Irene's explosive snorting laughs. The source of the joke was Betty, leaning back against the far wall with Alicia, the sketchbook between them.

Darrell frowned slightly at this; she liked the daring West Tower girl, but it was prep now all the same and several of the others hadn't finished yet. What sort of head girl would she be if she allowed them to sit about chatting instead of finishing the set work?

She caught sight of Clarissa and Bill quietly talking, their books closed, and a quick glance about told her that most of the group _was_ finished. Only poor, lazy Gwendoline Mary was still in the middle of the passages, but at that particular moment her attention was elsewhere.

"You're such a beast, Alicia!" Gwen cried shrilly. "You don't know what it's like to find something difficult!"

Connie glanced up and silently agreed, but she didn't like Gwendoline's sulky manner and certainly wasn't going to stick up for her. She turned back to Ruth and pressed on with the poetry, glad to be finally finishing the wretched passages.

Connie was sure she had done badly in the exams three weeks earlier, but consoled herself with the thought that Ruth would be left down as well. Neither twin knew yet that Ruth had in fact managed to scrape by, and would pass into the fifth form with the others. While the separation might be hard at first, it would allow Ruth to stand on her own feet more and Connie to work at her own pace.

"What's going on over there?" Darrell's sharp tone made both the pouting Gwendoline and the grinning Alicia look up in surprise. The golden-haired girl took her chance to get Darrell onside first; after all, hadn't Darrell objected the last time Betty intruded on prep?

"Darrell, why does Betty have to sit out here gassing with Alicia?" she asked rather peevishly. "I'm trying to finish my prep!"

Darrell wasn't fooled by Gwendoline's innocent expression, but cast a stern look at Alicia all the same. She hadn't forgotten the previous occasion with Betty either. Darrell had nearly lost her temper very badly that day, and there had been a great deal of unpleasantness when Betty finally _did_ leave.

"If you had worked harder, Gwen, you'd be finished like everyone else. But if you can't be quiet out here, Betty, you'll have to leave until after prep," Darrell concluded firmly.

She was rewarded for her control when Gwendoline turned back to her books, still glowering, and Betty nodded good-naturedly before leaning close to talk with Alicia. Darrell sighed, satisfied, and one look at Sally's warm smile told her that she had done well.

"When _will_ prep be over, anyway? Clarissa and I were hoping to get a ride in this evening," Bill called out from where she and the other girl were sitting.

"Yes, it is odd that Miss Williams hasn't been out yet, Darrell," Sally commented, consulting her wristwatch.

Normally their form mistress would have already appeared to signal the end of prep, and for those finished, free time would commence until the bell rang for supper.

"Perhaps she's given us extra time since there was so much to do tonight," Mavis ventured.

The girl had just that minute finished her work, and she stretched her arms in relief. Beside her, quiet Mary-Lou checked Daphne's answers. The kind-hearted girl excelled in the language, and so tried to help anyone who needed it. Daphne, however, was Mary-Lou's friend, and so the assistance came naturally. Gwen looked on enviously as Miss Williams appeared.

"I know it's a little after time, girls. I trust you've all used the extra ten minutes wisely," she said, almost rolling her eyes as she saw Alicia and Betty in an intense, and hushed, conversation.

Her gaze fell on Gwendoline, eyes hardening as she saw the girl still in the middle of her work. Goodness, would Gwen never grow out of her laziness? Miss Williams shook her head slightly, then addressed them all.

"There is a notice to stay away from the oak tree at the far end of the first lacrosse field. A swarm of wild bees have nested there, and several second and third formers have already been stung."

Alicia looked annoyed. "Oh, blow," she said quietly to Betty. "What are we going to do now?"

Miss Williams was still speaking. "Now, if you've finished prep, you're free until the bell. Otherwise, do the set work until you _have_ finished it." The teacher scanned the faces of the girls once more, then turned back inside.

Bill and Clarissa were up straight away.

"Come on Clarissa. We've still got a bit of time before it's too dark," Bill said as they hurried off to get changed.

Betty stood up too, holding a hand out to Alicia to haul her up.

"We'll have a walk along there and see what else we can find," she grinned, and Alicia let her annoyance fade away. The pair took up their books, and headed back towards the common room; however, not before Alicia remarked to Gwendoline -

"If you attack that prep with as much gusto as you attacked dinner, Gwen, you'll be finished in no time!"

Betty shook her head and added in a overly sympathetic tone, "Now, now. Perhaps the poor thing is tired from all that scowling."

They walked off, laughing, and Gwendoline threw a hateful glare after them. She despised and feared Betty as much as she did Alicia for her sharp tongue and quick wit.

"Beast," she said again, her face sulky and pinched. "Why does Betty have to be in our pockets all the time anyway?"

The girl narrowed her eyes as she watched the retreating couple and huffed, half-muttering her words as she barely dared say them at all, even without Alicia's presence.

"There's certainly something odd about those two."

Those who had heard the mumbled remark stopped, looking across at the sullen girl. Gwendoline, thinking she had a sympathetic audience, sat up a bit, emboldened.

She pressed on, warming to her topic. "They're _always_ together, though Betty isn't even in our Tower."

"Betty's a scream," Irene said in an annoyed tone. "And she's Alicia's friend. Why shouldn't she group up with us?"

Irene too had not quite finished her prep, and though much further advanced than Gwendoline, she did not want to be interrupted with the girl's silly, spiteful gossiping.

"She's much more fun than you are sometimes, Gwendoline Mary," drawled Belinda. Her voice was relaxed, but there was a hard undertone to her words.

Quite a few of the girls were watching the exchange now. Daphne felt Mary-Lou tremble slightly beside her, and a wave of irritation swept over the girl.

'Blow them for arguing now!' she thought. 'Just when we all want to _properly_ relax.' She made up her mind to say something.

"Oh, who cares anyway?" Daphne interrupted, in a mildly exasperated tone. "It's so nice out this evening, don't spoil it with such a _silly_ quarrel."

"That's right," said Darrell in a decidedly firm voice. The group looked across to where she sat with Sally. "Alicia and Betty are our friends – and they're jolly amusing too! I don't believe there's anything more to say about it."

Sally nodded her support for her friend's words, and the other girls sat back, letting the unpleasantness drift away. But Gwendoline was not willing to let the matter drop. She glared at Irene and Belinda, both of whom she felt had done her an injustice.

"Well, _I'm_ not surprised Miss Potts won't allow Betty to move to our Tower," she began again poisonously. "They should both be dismissed. That kind of friendship is quite unnatural, Mother says so!"

Gwen did not know precisely what her mother had meant by this particular pearl of wisdom, but she felt pleased with herself for saying it all the same. It sounded so _dreadful_, just the sort of thing for getting her own back against Alicia!

"Shut up, Gwen, and finish your prep," Darrell said shortly, hardly able to stop herself from going over and shaking the foolish, petulant girl.

Sally could see her friend struggling to remain calm, and touched her arm gently. Gwendoline Mary was so infuriating, it would make anyone want to shake her, but Darrell had already badly lost her temper once that year and Sally couldn't let her again.

When Miss Potts had assigned Sally to be head girl in Darrell's place after the June Incident, it had almost broken the girl's heart. She had promised to share everything with Darrell, and was true to her word, but the look of sheer despair on her friend's face when Miss Potts announced the decision was something she could never quite forgive June.

"Come on, let's leave her to it. We spent enough hours rowing when we were swotting for the School Cert," Sally said quietly to Darrell, and she felt the tension leave the other girl's body. Darrell took a deep breath and turned to Sally, smiling gratefully.

"Yes, let's take a wander down to the pool. With any luck, the games mistress might let us take a quick dip since it's still so heavenly out."

Irene sat up, an indignant look on her face. "I do hope you're not planning to go swimming when I've not yet finished, Darrell Rivers!" she said in her sternest voice, glaring at the two of them.

"I was barely able to finish prep myself," Darrell chuckled. "With you going 'tum-ti-tum' under your breath, Irene. It was jolly distracting."

Just then a textbook was hurled in the direction of the two standing girls. Sally and Darrell dodged, laughing as Irene chased them around the courtyard, the girl scattering pens and books haphazardly. The others looked on in merry astonishment before abandoning books to join the game.

"I can't believe we're going to be fifth formers soon," gasped Mary-Lou. "I don't feel a bit grown-up."

Daphne grinned back at her. "That's why we've got to make the most of fourth form, Mary-Lou."

Only Gwendoline Mary remained seated, the conversation about Alicia and Betty still running through her mind. Why, if she knew one of their secrets, she need never fear their remarks again! The girl turned her attention back to the French poems before her, storing the idea away for use at a later time.

END CHAPTER ONE

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I don't think there are any notes I need to make for this chapter, but if I have missed something please let me know ^v^ Please do leave a review. I have tried to capture Blyton's tone and vocabulary in this story, but I'm not sure I achieved it here. Any comments on this, or on any of it, will be most appreciated ^v^ I will try to have the next chapter up within the next two weeks or so, but I'm still reworking it as it stands.

_(Cleaned up and re-uploaded March, 2010. No real changes – just formatting, typos and the occasional stray comma.)_


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER:** All characters and story arcs of the Malory Towers series are property of Enid Blyton, her subsequent Estate, and the associated publishing house. In other words, not me.

**AUTHOR NOTE:** Many, many thanks to those who have left a review ^v^ Made me feel very happy indeed! I hope this chapter meets expectation, but I feel I have rather failed with the Blyton-speak here. When I read MT, it's all so straight to the point. I hope this will still be an enjoyable read, though.

Almost identical cast here as the first chapter. These aren't going to be the only characters followed in the story, but it's just in keeping with who knows what for now, and so on.

Please do leave a review, about anything to do with the story. All feedback is gratefully received ^v^

* * *

The last week of term seemed to fly past very quickly indeed. All the tension and hard work of the School Cert lay far behind the fourth form, and they determined to make the most of those carefree days. Summer holidays were the longest of the whole year and many would not see their friends again for two months.

'I can't think how these girls will survive without one another for more than a few hours,' thought Miss Williams, the fourth-form mistress, with a wry smile. 'Although in the case of Irene and Belinda, it may well do them good to spend some time apart!'

She was tidying the top of her desk in the study she shared with Miss Parker. During the course of the term, many items found their way to that desk, and at that particular moment she was staring at Irene's timetable. It had been at the bottom of a large pile of papers and must have lain hidden there for some time. Gracious, how _had_ Irene managed without it?

Miss Williams could only shake her head in disbelief. She set the timetable aside to give to Irene at the next opportunity – along with a stern talk about the importance of such an item – and carried on with her task. As much as she felt great pride in most of her form, she wondered how they would fare in the lower fifth next term.

The mistress was not alone in her thoughts, however. Several girls were currently engaged in a conversation on the very same subject as they cleaned the North Tower common room.

"I can't imagine any of us as seniors to the school," remarked Darrell, chuckling. "Except for Sally perhaps. You've always been jolly sensible."

Sally made a face as she continued to wipe down a table.

"I don't know about that," she said in her calm, unaffected way. She glanced across at her friend, and a sly smile appeared. "I rather think our head girl will make a fine fifth-former though."

"Oh, don't!" groaned Darrell. "Even the sound of it makes me feel too old for words!"

Alicia, who had been listening to this exchange with some amusement, cocked her head.

"Ah, but we shall have to buckle down now, Darrell," she began in a grave tone. "No more tricks, no more jokes. It's to be all hard work next term."

She sounded so serious that Darrell looked round in astonishment. Her eyes went wide, searching Alicia's gleaming black ones for a hint of deception, but there was none. Darrell looked alarmed.

"Surely it's not so staid as all that in the _fifth_?" she asked, rather nervously.

Darrell had rather been hoping for a few terms of respite before the Higher Certificate loomed the following year. Yet it seemed there would be little chance of it if even Alicia was prepared to stop playing the fool.

The worried look on her face was too much for Irene, who did one of her explosive snorting laughs. This, of course, set everybody off, and Darrell was relieved to see Alicia's eyes twinkle.

"No, I daresay it isn't," the mischievous girl grinned. "But you sounded so mournful about going up, I couldn't resist saying something!"

Darrell grinned back, and good-naturedly swung out at Alicia with her broom. Oh, it was so lovely to be able to stand around and chat and not have anything to look forward to except the holidays!

She and Sally had already arranged to spend part of the break together. Sally was to come and stay with Darrell's family for two weeks, and both girls were very much looking forward to it.

"Well, we've got two months of holidays to enjoy first," Darrell said with a satisfied sigh. She glanced around at the others in the room. "What are you all going to do? Mary-Lou?"

Mary-Lou turned from where she was carefully dusting the shelves with Daphne. The girl looked happy and excited, and Darrell thought once again how glad she was that Mary-Lou now had a proper friend.

"I'm going to stay with my aunt in Bath for some of the hols," Mary-Lou replied in her soft voice. "She's an artist, and I haven't seen her in an awfully long time."

"An artist?" came the voice of Belinda, promptly followed by a loud thump!

The group looked around to see the girl sitting on the common room floor, holding her head. Her face screwed up in discomfort for a minute before she gave the cupboard beside her an irritated glare.

"I do believe you've been waiting to do that to me all morning," she told it crossly, not worried in the slightest by the others' bemused faces. "Well, I wish you wouldn't. That jolly well hurt!"

There was a round of giggles and despite her annoyance, Belinda joined in, still rubbing her head. Irene left what she had been doing to help her up, though this nearly ended in the pair of them falling over together. Alicia's eyes were bright as she watched the riotous scene. She would miss these highly entertaining displays during the summer hols.

"Perhaps you could have a word with my bookcase over here," Irene put in hopefully, as she steadied herself against the offending cupboard. "It's being the most awful little beast right now."

"What's it doing?" asked Sally, plainly surprised. Really, Irene and Belinda seemed to get more eccentric with each passing year!

The two were very good friends, though most of the mistresses agreed they probably shouldn't be. What Irene remembered to take with her, Belinda would forget to bring back. Sally admired both girls greatly for their artistic gifts, but was privately glad she did not share them. She sometimes felt the inconveniences they caused would be too much for her to bear.

Irene snorted. "It looks like it has been sorted according to Gwendoline Mary's alphabet!" she said scornfully.

Irene did not bear malice, but she had not forgotten the conversation in the courtyard a few days earlier. Nobody had mentioned Gwen's poisonous attack to Alicia or Betty so far – in part because none of them felt it worth repeating, and in part because nobody had liked to.

Alicia, who regularly had a sharp word to say about Gwendoline, did not notice anything amiss about Irene's demeanor. She grinned.

"Where is Mother's darling now anyway?"

"Cleaning the dormy with the others," Darrell answered shortly, not keen to start a conversation which might somehow lead back to that particular day.

"Dear Gwendoline Mary," Alicia went on in a smooth voice. "I'll bet she's looking forward to the hols. Sleeping until nine o'clock. Mother making her bed, Mother wiping her chin. It's a wonder she survives at school at all!"

Darrell frowned slightly. She disliked Gwendoline as much as anybody for her selfish, petulant manner, but Alicia always sounded so _scathing_. It was exactly this kind of unmerciful taunting that had led to the outburst the other day. The girl sighed. Still, what was one to say when faced with someone like Gwen? She was so very thick-skinned about her failings, no matter how easily tears appeared in her eyes.

Alicia caught Darrell's look, and gave a wicked grin as she headed towards the common room door.

"Never fear, head girl. I'm taking my sharp tongue with me."

"Where are you off to?" called Belinda indignantly. "We've not finished yet."

Alicia chuckled in reply. "Well, you may not have, but I finished cleaning the windows a good ten minutes ago. I've been helping Darrell with her sweeping since then."

"Come on, Alicia," Darrell said mildly. "You know we've all got to stay until we finish the room."

Alicia looked impatient. "Well, I _have_ finished. The windows are absolutely spotless. I don't see why I ought to wait for everybody else."

That was so like Alicia! She was funny and clever, but she never stopped to think of those who were slower or less capable than she. Darrell glanced at Mary-Lou and Daphne tending to the shelves, and then at Irene, who was surrounded by a pile of dusty books. The girl found herself feeling cross – after all, it didn't seem fair that Alicia should leave whilst they worked on.

"Look, I don't want to be heavy-handed," she began, trying to sound pleasant.

"Then don't," Alicia cut in smartly. She was beginning to feel annoyed about Darrell keeping her back. "I've done my share – and I've helped you with yours for that matter!"

Darrell's temper flared at this brash reply. Sally saw it and quickly stepped in.

"Where _are_ you going?" she asked calmly, wanting to give her friend a chance to cool her thoughts.

"To meet Betty," Alicia said, and there was contempt in her voice. "Any objection?"

At this Darrell could not stop the anger boiling up inside her, no matter how badly she wanted to. So Alicia was leaving to lark about with Betty! When she ought to be helping one of the others!

"None of us is to go until the common room is clean," she said hotly. "Alicia, go help Irene with the bookcase!"

The others now watched the exchange with bated breath. Everyone knew that Alicia did not take kindly to orders, and they wondered what she might say.

Alicia gave an icy glare, always a danger sign with her. "I'm not a first-former, and it's the next to last day of term," she said stiffly. "I've done my share of the work, so I'll jolly well meet Betty if I feel like it."

With that, the girl turned on her heel and walked out. Darrell stared after her, almost shaking with anger at her defiance. The sound of whistling filtered down the corridor for a moment and then all was quiet.

Darrell didn't say any more, but her scarlet face spoke for her. She vigorously started sweeping and ignored the looks being exchanged around the room. How dare Alicia walk out like that! She hated herself for getting so worked up, but Alicia often had that effect on her.

'She's too strong-willed!' she fumed silently, 'Frightfully witty and amusing, but won't do a thing unless she feels like it!'

And Betty! She was just as bad, Darrell decided fiercely, as she remembered why Alicia had left. Betty was not so clever as Alicia, but she seemed to have far less regard for authority. Thoroughly irritated by them both, Darrell suddenly felt very glad the girl did not belong to North Tower.

In truth, Darrell was disappointed that Alicia had been so cutting and don't-carish towards her. They usually got along very well, and she disliked it when they didn't. Spats of that kind made her feel hot and bothered.

She sighed, her sudden anger now quite gone. They had all been having such a lovely time together too as they cleaned the common room. Chatting and laughing and looking forward to the hols. And then one row had spoilt it all! Darrell inwardly remonstrated herself for not handling the situation better.

"Don't look so glum, old thing," she heard Sally say, and looked up to see her friend smiling reassuringly. "You can only do so much."

Darrell saw Sally's calm, understanding expression and felt a weight lift from her shoulders. How did the girl always know the right thing to say to her? She managed a grin and nodded gratefully.

"Yes, you're right as usual. Although I don't know why I can't control this terrible temper of mine," she said, sheepishly touching the side of her nose. It was something Darrell often did when she felt sorry about something, and Sally was glad to see it.

"Well, I wouldn't change a thing about you," she declared loyally. Darrell felt herself go pink.

The activity in the common room went on then, and as boisterously as it had before. There was still much to be done before term ended. Indeed, none of them had the time nor the inclination to dwell on the bitter words exchanged just a few moments earlier.

Alicia, however, _had_ dwelled on them as she went down the stairs to meet Betty. She resented Darrell's high-and-mighty tone, and intended to be very cool indeed when they met again at supper. It annoyed her that they should quarrel so soon before the holidays, but her pride would not allow her to apologise.

Betty was leaning against one of the walls in the courtyard when Alicia emerged from North Tower. She saw her friend's grim face and immediately asked what had caused it.

"Nothing much," Alicia said smoothly. "Darrell taking her head girl duties too seriously, as usual."

Betty laughed and looped Alicia's arm firmly with her own. "Well, Miss Good-Girl-Of-The-School is probably heartbroken to think they will end tomorrow. Isn't it just like her to carry on until the eleventh hour?"

Though she was still seething, Alicia couldn't help but grin at her friend. Betty never cared at all if she was cheeky or scornful – and yet she managed to avoid rubbing people up the wrong way. Alicia made up her mind not to think about the row with Darrell, and together the friends made their way towards the playing fields.

It was their usual custom to sit beneath a very large oak tree at the end of the first lacrosse field. The tree was quite hidden from view, and there they could talk and laugh and plan all kinds of mad tricks together.

They were dismayed when Miss Williams had declared the tree to be dangerous with a hive of wild bees. Now they would have to find another place to giggle and scheme! What a bother! But they did find one, of course, almost at once. For while Gwen was spreading her poisonous gossip, Betty had caught Alicia's hand and pulled her laughing towards the old gardening sheds, hidden beyond the tennis courts.

Alicia had been doubtful at first. There was a very strict rule about girls going to the old sheds. If the pair were caught, it would mean yet another black mark against her name with Miss Grayling. Still, there seemed to be no other place where they could _truly_ talk without one of the others popping up.

They went there now, carefully surveying the playing fields for a stray mistress or head girl. After the trouble she had already endured, Alicia certainly did not intend to be put off her fun now. Both girls slipped past the tennis courts, behind the modern gardening sheds and stopped at their new secret place.

"Your people will come to pick you up tomorrow, won't they?" Alicia asked, and then gave a contented sigh as she sat down on an abandoned sack of grass clippings. It was half-filled and the girls had soon discovered that it was quite soft to sit on.

Betty nodded. "Yes, they always do." There was a pause as she settled herself against the other girl, and then a giggle. "Do tell me, though – what was the row with Darrell about?"

"Oh, it's not really worth mentioning," Alicia replied, a bit vaguely. She did not want to think about it just then.

It had begun to occur to the girl that the others might be very cool when she returned, and she would end up having to apologise after all. How irritating! Alicia's downright nature dictated that she admit her fault in the matter, but she found it very unpleasant all the same.

Betty caught the rueful look on her friend's face, and grinned.

"Don't worry, dear," she said impishly. "They won't burn you at the stake!"

And with that, Betty turned her head slightly, from her place sprawled across Alicia's lap, and caught the other girl's lips briefly with her own.

It was a sudden, playful kiss, but unmistakably grown-up in its intention. Somewhere at the back of her mind, Alicia marvelled blindly at how perfectly _identical_ it was to the first Betty had given her. That had been sudden too, but the feel of Betty's lips had lingered long after.

The sensation ended as quickly as it had begun. Betty's dark eyes sparkled back at her now, daring her to object. Alicia laughed softly – at the sheer audacity of it – and pulled the girl back towards her.

At once there was the wetness of Betty's mouth again, her rather dry lips parting to accommodate the slide of a tongue. It ran along her own, maddeningly evasive in its tactics, and all the while Betty's lips moved firmly between pressing and releasing.

Alicia could feel an almost unbearable warmth where Betty's frame pressed against her own. The girl was holding her tightly now, under one arm and over the other, and a pleasant shiver ran down Alicia's spine. Bursts of Betty's hot breath filled her mouth and throat in an abrupt rhythm.

It occurred to her, at one point, that her lungs had become rather uncomfortable in her chest. Alicia ignored her suffocation. She suddenly wanted to pull Betty's entire mouth into her own, however impossible that might be.

Not long after, though, they did separate. Betty was faintly pink, as she always was, and Alicia idly wondered if she too flushed after each kiss.

They sat there then, talking and laughing. Trying to remember where Betty might have left her bottle of invisible ink - "Oh, _blow_! I must've put it in the cupboard with the others!" – and pouring scorn on those whom they felt invited it. They kissed too, several more times that afternoon. Betty's wicked grin teased her at every turn and Alicia willingly indulged it.

As they walked back towards the dormitories in fine spirits, Alicia carelessly promised Darrell her apology.

'_Let_ the girl crow', she thought, 'Yes, and Sally – and even Gwen for that matter!'

In the splendor of that lovely afternoon, it all seemed to matter so little.

END CHAPTER TWO

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**NOTES**

1) Each mistress at Malory Towers seems to share a study with another from the same Tower – such as Miss Potts and Mam'zelle Dupont. I could not find Tower or study references for Miss Williams and Miss Parker, but it is possible they might share.

2) Assuming 1950s English school terms to be roughly equivalent to today, with one long holiday in summer and several shorter holidays separating each term.

I'm going to pitch the next update at two weeks again - the next chapter is close to ready, but I have some scripts due (-_-.) and I'd also like to post the next chapter of my HTH fic first. Thank you for reading, and please review ^v^

_(Cleaned up and re-uploaded March, 2010. No real changes – just formatting, typos, commas, and fixing a sentence which formerly contained the word 'face' twice!)_


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER:** All characters and story arcs of the Malory Towers series are property of Enid Blyton, her subsequent Estate, and the associated publishing house. In other words, not me.

**AUTHOR NOTE:** Many thanks again to those who have read and left a review - whether here or elsewhere ^v^ I don't know there's much to say about this chapter - it's certainly the last I've written before joining the rpg, or for a little while anyway -_-. Going to have to be extra vigilant about characterisation from here on in.

Please do leave a review - I'm always concerned about tone and characterisation, and comments help greatly in telling me whether I've succeeded or not.

* * *

Although Alicia and Betty both loved school for its excitement and bustle, they greeted the holidays with very glad hearts indeed. The pair found their separation across houses to be a constant source of annoyance – somehow a bell always rang just when they least wanted to hear it.

And then Betty would mournfully return to West Tower for supper, or Alicia to the North Tower common room. Occasionally Betty would slip in with the North Tower girls, and go quite unnoticed, but not often. Miss Potts had a keen eye, and she didn't appreciate such blatant defiance of Tower rules.

It had been a great blow for the pair when Miss Grayling politely refused Mr. and Mrs. Hill's request to move Betty to North Tower.

"Just like the Grayling," Alicia had said when Darrell asked her about it. "So much for trust!"

Her tone had been flippant, but in truth she was bitterly disappointed. Betty felt the same way. How absolutely marvellous it would have been to see one another at meals and in the dormy, as well as in class every day!

Alicia enjoyed the company of the girls in North Tower, but they didn't quite make up for her special friend.

Darrell was immediately sympathetic.

"I can't see that moving one girl between houses should be such a bother," she had said, wishing she could think of something that might cheer Alicia up.

Sally nodded in agreement. "That's awfully bad luck."

In fact, Sally had found herself privately agreeing with the decision. Darrell mightn't be able to see why Miss Grayling would not move Betty to North Tower, but she could. The Head surely did not intend for two of Malory Towers' most troublesome girls to be in the same house as well as the same form.

Sometimes Sally did wonder if Alicia and Betty might be rather less distracted in the same Tower. Both were often bored by the slower pace of their classmates, and the move might prove useful in keeping them occupied. Mam'zelle Dupont would certainly be grateful if so, as would many other mistresses!

Yet her pondering always arrived at the same point. Sally was a sensible girl, and she saw how such a move could easily lead to _twice_ the mischief! So whilst it might be hard for the friends to accept, Miss Grayling's decision was ultimately the wisest.

Of course, this did not prevent Alicia and Betty from being almost inseparable at school. Both delighted in tricks and games and both were equally ready with a cutting remark for the likes of Gwendoline Mary. Alicia's mind was quicker than Betty's, but her friend made up for it with her outrageous daring.

Holidays meant the chance to really spend some decent time together. Betty always managed to stay at least one week with Alicia, and often much longer during summer. Those were sweet, golden days that seemed to stretch forever – and yet passed in a trice. How maddening holidays were in that way!

It was now a well-established custom that Betty went to the Johns' home. Theirs was a fine, sturdy house in the country, necessarily large to accommodate Alicia's family. With her parents, three strapping older brothers and the Johns' housekeeper, it was a lively household.

Paddocks surrounded the house on three sides, and there was a small but rather lovely apple orchard beyond. Betty loved to climb the older trees, with their grey-brown bark, and drop small dappled apples to Alicia waiting below.

On one occasion, the girl had impishly sat in the tallest tree, and eaten apple after apple without tossing even one to her friend. She was delighted with her impromptu joke, and laughed without remorse. What a scream!

Betty's dark hair had flopped across her eyes as she peered through the leaves to catch a glimpse of the other girl's face.

She was completely unprepared to see Alicia not impatiently standing below, but grinning back at her from mere inches away! Betty had forgotten the girl could scale a tree as well as anyone, and was so startled she almost fell from her precarious perch.

It all ended, of course, in _both_ of them tumbling from the poor, shaken apple tree. They had landed in a heap, rather bruised and sorry for themselves, but laughing nonetheless. Who could mind something so silly as falling from a tree, when it was holidays and unaccountably fine weather?

Truthfully though, there was one particular reason why Betty preferred to stay with Alicia rather than the other way around. And however much she loved the orchard, and the paddocks, and all manner of things about the Johns' house, it really had little to do with any of them.

It was that Alicia, as the youngest child in her family, had no little brothers or sisters getting underfoot. She had three older brothers, but they were all jolly amusing, and always came back full of riotous stories about their term at boarding school.

"I say, did we tell you about the time Roger slipped into the classroom early to plant a trick? And the master went in early as well, and he had to hide in a cupboard until we caused a diversion? Go ahead, Roger – tell it!" the boys would chorus, and soon everyone would be in fits over the tale of Roger's lucky escape.

The young group enjoyed a very lively time indeed when all together at supper or swimming. Yet the boys had their own interests as well, and regularly took themselves off to pursue them.

Unlike Alicia, Betty was the middle child in her family. She had two elder sisters who had already left school, one of them married with a baby. The other worked as a nurse, and still lived at home. Betty liked them both immensely, but they had rather grown out of mischief and felt she ought to do the same.

Five years below Betty were twin boys called Harry and Tom. They idolised Betty for her daring, and she adored them in return, but during term break they became quite unbearable with following her from place to place.

"I say, Harry," poor Betty would groan. "Why don't you and Tom buzz off and play for a bit? I just want to talk to Alicia about something now."

And so the boys would nod, and droop their shoulders, and look altogether so forlorn that Alicia would feel quite uncomfortable.

"It's like being the wicked stepmother in Cinderella," she remarked once, with the distinct impression of having spoiled the twins' plans for yet another day with Betty.

The young twins proved a very difficult problem indeed! So, after one especially awkward visit, it was decided that Betty should spend the first part of the holidays at home, and then go to stay with Alicia.

That summer break, following the School Cert., had been no different. As it was such a _long_ holiday, though, more than a month passed before Betty arrived to join her friend. Alicia busied herself with family outings, games of tennis with her brothers, and writing the occasional short letter to Darrell or one of the others when she felt like it. Yet without her friend, things seemed rather dull.

Still, she was finally here now and the holidays could properly begin! Betty had arrived the afternoon before, and Alicia was very much looking forward to a whole fortnight with her friend.

'We're going to have a marvellous time,' she grinned to herself, as she passed the toast rack to Betty at breakfast. 'Absolutely first-class.'

"What shall we do today?" Betty idly asked. She picked up a jar of homemade marmalade and examined it. "My word, this looks terrific stuff!"

Alicia turned several possibilities for the day over in her quick mind. It was glorious weather out, and it seemed a shame to spend the day indoors. What would be best? Suddenly her eyes brightened as a thought struck her.

"_I_ know what we can do," she said, delighted with her grand idea. "We'll go down to Langford Hollow."

Betty had never heard of Langford Hollow, and prompted the other girl to tell her more about it.

"Well, there's a little grove that shelters it from the wind and bad weather," Alicia remembered, her dark eyes shining. "And there's an absolutely super little pool there, quite clear. I daresay we could even go swimming!"

Betty's lips curved in a wicked grin, and Alicia's skin prickled at the sight.

"Right, Langford Hollow it is, then," Betty agreed, with considerable enthusiasm. Just as she reached across to help herself to another boiled egg, Alicia's mother walked into the room.

The woman was frowning slightly, having caught some of Betty's last cry.

"What was that about Langford Hollow, dears?" she asked, pausing by the breakfast table. Alicia looked up in surprise, and grinned at her mother.

The two, as the Matron of North Tower often declared, were incredibly alike. Both were quick-brained, and both had a seemingly endless supply of witty remarks. Betty liked Mrs Johns very much indeed.

"We're planning to go there today, Mother," Alicia was saying. "It's so heavenly out – we can take a picnic lunch and stay for hours!"

What a splendid start to the holidays it would be, Betty thought. But when she looked round, Mrs Johns was shaking her head. She regarded Alicia squarely in the eye.

"Have you forgotten your cousin June is arriving to stay today?" she asked, already knowing the answer. Alicia and Betty's faces had fallen at once.

"_June_?" The pair echoed together in horror, almost unable to believe it.

"I wrote to you about it two weeks before you broke up, Alicia," her mother went on, sounding slightly exasperated. "Surely you remember?"

Alicia looked annoyed. She _had_ forgotten all about it, of course, in her excitement at seeing Betty again. Now the memory returned like a horrid bad dream. Blow! Now they would have that brash, impossible kid ruining everything!

"Mother, June _can't_ come to stay," Alicia began desperately, her words matching the expression on Betty's face. "You remember I told you what a little beast she was this term!"

"I remember," Mrs Johns said briskly, pouring herself a cup of tea from the pot on the table. "But June is coming to stay and that's the end of it."

Alicia groaned inwardly. She knew that tone in her mother's voice, and it always meant there was no point in arguing. She glanced across at Betty, and saw irritation and disappointment on her friend's face. Blow June! Even on their lovely holiday, she managed to spoil things!

So Alicia and Betty spent the morning making up the narrow bed in the Johns' spare room. What a letdown from the marvellous day they had planned!

"You can spend your entire holiday at Langford Hollow if you wish," Mrs Johns had said, handing a pile of sheets to her daughter, "but today I need you to help me prepare for June. Molly has quite enough to do as it is."

Alicia savagely stuffed a pillow into its pillowslip. Prepare for June indeed! She was trying very hard not to feel bitter about the situation, but found herself failing as the sun warmed her back through the window. It was galling to think they would miss their excursion to run around for June. _June_! Who had caused Alicia a great deal of hardship that term!

"How long is this pest going to be staying, at any rate?" Betty glumly asked from the other side of the bed. The pillowslip she had fitted looked rather mangled and she attempted to smooth it now.

"Two weeks," replied Alicia, looking very annoyed. Betty left the pillow and went to slide an arm across her friend's shoulders.

"Don't worry," she began and a broad grin broke across her face. "We'll still have a fine time. And I've a bone or two to pick with that kid from last term. This may well be my perfect opportunity!"

Alicia nodded. Betty's carefree tone suddenly made everything better than it was, and she relaxed against the press of the other girl's arm. A thin smile appeared on her face.

"Yes, you're right," Alicia said, and gave a short laugh. "It's time we knocked June into line a bit more, anyway. She was quite unbearable last term."

Betty rolled her eyes. "You don't have to tell me! I got a dreadful rollicking from Miss Carton over that feast business – do you remember?"

"How could I forget?" her friend replied, a trace of bitterness still in her voice.

Alicia hadn't forgotten the June Incident last term, and she didn't ever think she would. Not only had the girl caused Darrell to temporarily lose her position as head girl, she had gotten Betty into a great deal of trouble too. And all to get even with her own cousin! Alicia felt quite disgusted by June's behaviour at times.

The sudden weight of Betty's chin on her shoulder, though, prompted the girl from her musings. She shook herself slightly. Why waste time sulking about June – she would _be_ there soon enough, worse luck!

Betty's arms were draped about Alicia's neck now, her hard little chin digging almost uncomfortably into her shoulder. Alicia knew without looking that her friend's face would be thoughtful.

"Hie! Don't fall asleep on me!" she teased, taking advantage of Betty's seldom-seen calm. "You're rather too heavy for that, you know."

Betty chuckled, and tightened her grip around Alicia, almost dragging her backwards.

"Oh, yes? I do recall it was _you_ that ate three slices of toast at breakfast this morning!"

With that, the girl gave Alicia a good-natured poke in the side. Alicia jerked away, and swatted at the hand, laughter beginning to bubble up inside her. She was exceedingly ticklish, and it was a weakness Betty often exploited. The girl did so now, giving little prods as if to demonstrate Alicia's plumpness

"Dear me, you'll match Gwendoline Mary in no time at all!" she giggled, still clinging to Alicia's neck and quite hampering any chance of escape.

"Oh, do you remember that day last term? When we pushed her in the pool four times in a row?" Alicia managed to say, laughing uncontrollably now. "And the silly thing still kept getting out and standing on the side!"

The memory of that occasion sent Betty into similar fits of giggles, and she held on to Alicia helplessly, trying to hold her balance.

Indeed the pair might have fallen if not for a sudden and most unwelcome intrusion upon their game. For as Alicia swung round to try and catch one of Betty's maddeningly nimble hands, she caught sight of a figure at the door that made her stop.

There stood June, with her sulky little mouth and jaunty, don't-carish expression. Her case was on the floor beside her, and it seemed she had been there for some time. Her eyes flicked in amusement over the two older girls, halted in their clowning, and at once Alicia felt an unaccountable shiver.

"Alicia, dear, where are you?" called Mrs Johns from the hallway. "Your cousin has arrived!"

END CHAPTER THREE

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**NOTES**

1) At several points in the books, there are conversations between Alicia and Betty in the dining hall, or the common room. However, "First Term at Malory Towers" clearly states that these venues are quite separate for each Tower. I'm not quite sure why this is, but I decided to give my own explanation here.

2) In "In the Fifth at Malory Towers", Alicia mentions that her family has at least one paddock, so I'm assuming she lives in the country.

3) I have put Miss Carton, the history mistress, as West Tower housemistress here - from the little we hear of her, she seems a capable sort, and we know she doesn't belong to North Tower.

The next chapter... I'd honestly _like_ to post in two weeks, but I've written very little of it so far -_-. Still, I'll pitch it for then and do my best. Thank you for reading, and please leave a review :)

_(Cleaned up and re-uploaded March, 2010. No real changes – just typos and the occasional stray comma.)_


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER:** All characters and story arcs of the Malory Towers series are property of Enid Blyton, her subsequent Estate, and the associated publishing house. In other words, not me.

**AUTHOR NOTE:** As always, many, many thanks to those who have read and left a review. They are always greatly appreciated :o) so _Thank You_. My apologies for the lateness of this update – two weeks always seems a long way off, when I set the deadline, but, er, it passes quickly.

Also -- I'm quite sure that I've lost Blyton's tone for this chapter, but hopefully it won't detract from the story. If it comes to a choice between maintaining Blyton-speak, and maintaining the storyline, I'm sure everyone would prefer I concentrate on the second. In any case, that's what I've opted for here. I'll try to pick it up again in following chapters, though :o)

Please do leave a review - I'm always concerned about tone and characterisation, and comments help greatly in telling me whether I've succeeded or not.

* * *

"Hallo, Alicia," June said in her usual jaunty manner, walking into the room and putting down her suitcase. She didn't seem in the least perturbed by the glares of the older girls and Alicia marvelled once again at how very _unsquashable_ her young cousin was.

"Been making my bed up? Thanks _awfully_! Hope you haven't put on too many blankets though – it's rather hot for that sort of thing," June went on, maddeningly cocky.

Alicia felt her irritation, which had been lurking beneath the surface since breakfast, begin to take hold once more. What an awful little beast June truly _was_! Even after the incident last term, she didn't seem to have improved in manners.

"You watch your tone," Alicia said sharply, her cold gaze boring into June's face. "I'm quite sure you're not too old for a spanking yet!"

June looked sulky at once. "You wouldn't dare," she said, though her voice didn't sound quite sure.

"Oh, yes, she would," Betty put in, her arms still about her friend's shoulders. "And if she wouldn't, then _I_ would! You've already spoilt one day for us, I'll have you know. So you'd better not have any ideas about spoiling the rest!"

June scowled and said nothing. She had not been looking forward to staying with the Johns ever since she learned Betty would be there too. For no matter how much she might deny it, June _was_ afraid of the older girls, just a _little_ bit. She knew Alicia and Betty would not have forgotten her sneaking last term, and had felt, much to her annoyance, a slight roll of apprehension at the thought of seeing them.

"Sam and the others won't take kindly to any cheek from you, either," Alicia said coolly, enjoying the chance to put June firmly in her place. She knew her words would most likely be forgotten, or disregarded, not even ten minutes later, but the satisfaction in saying them was considerable, all the same.

June's brash attitude was a constant source of annoyance for Alicia, and especially since she arrived at Malory Towers, but it was also a source of disappointment for her. For although she never would admit it, Alicia would have greatly enjoyed playing the older, wiser girl to some eager first-form cousin.

'Like Darrell did with young Felicity,' the girl thought, quite sure _she_ would have made a better job of it. Yes, she could have shown June all the hidden paths around Malory Towers, and passed on her most successful tricks and jokes. She could even have helped her train up for lacrosse or diving, being most adept at both.

It was jolly nice to have someone look up to you, after all – to see them hold their breath a bit when you spoke. Alicia found that Darrell was quite satisfying in that way too, but that was rather different. Darrell was a girl in her own form, with her own particular friend – the repercussions of owning such admiration, though frequently amusing, sometimes struck Alicia as tiresome and fraught. With a younger cousin, she mused, it would have been the sort of admiration to bask in only as and when she felt like it.

Still, Alicia had learned, long before June was even close to starting at Malory Towers, that this particular cousin was far too hard and stubborn to be taken under any wing, least of all her own. And so she had not offered to share anything with the prickly little girl, and told her quite plainly that she didn't intend to.

Alicia stared at June now with renewed dislike, but predictably, the girl's face lit up at the mention of Alicia's brother.

"Where _is_ Sam? I haven't seen him yet – or any of the others!"

Alicia snorted. "Keeping out of your way if he knows what's good for him," she said smoothly, and felt Betty suppress a laugh behind her. June reddened and opened her mouth to speak when a voice interrupted the proceedings.

"Now, then, what do we have here?"

Mrs Johns appeared in the doorway and flicked her eyes over the three girls. _Gracious_! It seemed they had already started the petty spats, and with June only just arrived! The woman quickly took in the scene and knew she was not wrong.

There on one side of the room stood Alicia, staring at June with rather hard eyes. With her was Betty, and Mrs Johns couldn't help but notice the girl was rather _draped_ across her daughter. More importantly, though, she seemed to have a very sly look on her face, exaggerated as ever by her unruly fringe.

June was staring back at the pair with a pink face and defiant chin, but her hand, shaking ever so slightly, gave her away. Her aunt knew that the first-former was not as bold as she liked others to believe, and especially not where Alicia was concerned. Mrs Johns sighed inwardly, and took charge of the situation.

"There you are, Alicia," she said briskly. "I'm glad to see you've done the bed nicely. Now, you and Betty can run along, but don't go too far, for goodness' sake! I'll want you to look after June for me once she's finished unpacking."

As if on cue, Alicia and June scowled in perfect unison. It was such a comical sight that even Betty might have laughed if only she wasn't so dismayed by Mrs Johns' words. Look after that pest for the whole afternoon! Betty wanted to howl. She wouldn't let Alicia know how disappointed she was – for it shouldn't help the situation anyway! - but at that very moment Betty Hill was simply furious with June, and the timing of her trip, and her little brothers and simply _everything_!

She had been so looking forward to just _being_ with Alicia! The idea of sharing her with June, of all people, held very little appeal indeed. And it wasn't even the prospect of sharing Alicia's attention that so aggravated Betty. She never minded Alicia's other friendships – and nor did Alicia mind hers – because, after all, they knew that they liked one another best. Their friendship was rather different to that of Sally and Darrell, or Irene and Belinda!

Alicia and Betty had never spoken about it, but somehow both girls knew things weren't the same anymore. They hadn't been the same since that day, several months ago now, when Betty had reached across and pressed her mouth to Alicia's. She had drawn back with her lips dry and her eyes bright to see her friend looking rather queer. What a scream to think of it now! In truth, though, she recalled feeling distinctly mirthless at the time.

Betty didn't know exactly what had possessed her to do such a thing then, but nor did she care very much. She _had_ done it and was glad. Life had flowed with a sort of sweet – and wicked – secrecy since that day. And though Betty didn't dwell on this either, part of her was aware of an increasing, and overwhelming, wish to be as close to Alicia as possible.

And so the pair would curl up in their secret places at Malory Towers, and talk and laugh and press their lips tightly together over and over. Alicia shot sly winks at Betty across the classroom or in the chapel, and Betty returned them with a wicked grin. They suppressed giggles in the corridors. No-one had ever told Alicia or Betty that they oughtn't be so familiar, but somehow both girls knew that too.

And now June had arrived and would prove yet another means of interruption! _Bother_! Still, as there was nothing to be done about it, Betty slipped her arm from Alicia's shoulder and took her friend by the hand instead.

"Let's go down to the orchard, shall we?" she said in a low voice. "It's been simply ages since I climbed an apple tree."

"Yes, jolly good idea," Alicia replied, glad of both Betty's hand in her own and to be getting away from her irksome cousin.

The pair headed towards the door, and Mrs Johns nodded at them over June's suitcase before remarking, "I don't expect to see any damage to my apple trees either, Betty Hill!"

Alicia and Betty looked at the woman, and saw that her eyes were twinkling. They grinned back at her.

"Oh, you certainly shan't _see_ any damage, Mother," Alicia said in a smooth tone, and with that the girls fled giggling down the hall.

Mrs Johns shook her head, and began laying out June's clothes for her to put away.

"Don't take any notice of Alicia, will you dear?" she said in the same brisk voice, though there was a hint of a smile at her mouth. "She's been looking forward to seeing Betty ever since school broke up, I daresay – and she doesn't want to think of anything else just yet!"

"I shouldn't let Alicia or Betty bother me if they tried!" June replied huffily, and turned away. Her aunt shook her head slightly – would the girl never realise that being hard and rude grew tiresome rather quickly?

She gave June a stern look and waited for the girl to look up. There would be no sulking and bitterness in her household, that much she _did_ know! June felt her face turn hot under her aunt's gaze, and after a minute returned it rather nervously. She liked her aunt very much, but was more than aware of her no-nonsense ways – she had been the target of that sarcastic tongue before!

However, when June looked at the woman's face, she didn't see anger or irritation, as she had expected. Instead there was a rather thoughtful expression that made June feel more nervous than ever!

Mrs Johns _had_ been on the verge of saying a few short, sharp words to June about manners when something stopped her. After all, hadn't she been just as brash and don't-carish when she was thirteen? The woman saw herself in both Alicia and June – the similarities were glaringly obvious – but there was a difference in June. She had noticed it gradually over the years and puzzled over it. For although Alicia and her mother were absolutely _straight_ in all dealings, no matter how severe the consequences might be, June was not.

And so it was with this in mind that Mrs Johns halted delivery of a stinging reprimand, and took a different approach. Perhaps, she thought hopefully, if June were shown a little encouragement and fairness, she might become rather less hard and sulky. Certainly the opposite had not worked so far!

"Have you a particular friend at school, June?" Mrs Johns began pleasantly. As she spoke, she checked the compartments of the suitcase for any hidden items, and so did not see the rueful look that passed, however briefly, across June's face.

It was quickly replaced by one of defiance.

"No," June said shortly, reminding herself again that she didn't _need_ friends at all. "I was friendly with one or two of them, you know, but I don't much care to have a particular friend."

Mrs Johns looked around in surprise, and June scolded herself silently. Oh, _blow_! That sounded completely wrong! The girl felt herself going pink, and wished she could take back all the words at once. She had wanted to sound casual and unconcerned, but somehow, with her sneering, tight little voice, it had sounded like she cared very much indeed!

"I used to think like that," her aunt said unexpectedly, and June forgot her annoyance to stare in astonishment. "Yes, I did! I thought it didn't matter whether I had friends or not, as long as I was first in the yearly exam and lacrosse. I didn't even play tricks when I started at Malory Towers – imagine that!"

But June couldn't imagine it, and told her aunt so.

"Well, it's true," said Mrs. Johns, chuckling. "But I soon learnt that things are much more fun with two, June – and you will too!"

And with that, Mrs Johns gave June a warm smile and went out of the room. The girl stared after her, torn between resentment and gratitude. Her aunt was kind, and probably _right_ – June knew that by herself – but things weren't quite so easy as she made them sound.

After all, _she_ hadn't been sent to Coventry by a group of first-form babies. Nor had she been trailed around by that silly, adoring Felicity Rivers, only to be dropped at the slightest sign of trouble! June couldn't stop a sneer from crossing her face at the thought of Felicity and her new friend Susan.

'Everyone calls Felicity 'decent' and 'sporting', but I don't think she is at all,' the girl thought fiercely. 'A truly decent sort would stick by her friend, no matter what!'

Poor, stubborn June! She didn't want to remember what had _really_ happened to make Felicity despise her. It was a great pity that she didn't, for if she had recognised how truly horrid her actions were and apologised sincerely, Felicity might have been tempted to take her back. Still, it was Too Late now. The only thing June honestly regretted was being caught, and that didn't make her popular with anyone.

A sudden shriek of laughter from outside startled June from her thoughts, and prompted her to move to the window. Not out of curiosity, for she knew it would be her cousin – with her _friend_ – but something else. The sound niggled her for some reason. Rather, June realised now, it reminded her of the scene she had intruded upon not half an hour ago.

The girl scanned the garden and the paddocks, and then, seeing nothing, let her gaze fall upon the small, dappled orchard. Yes, there they were! She could just see Alicia, lying back in the unkempt grass and laughing gaily. June narrowed her eyes. Betty was there too, sitting beside Alicia and leaning close, whispering in her ear.

It was the sort of moment between special friends that June dearly wanted for herself, deep inside, but before the familiar jealousy could wash over her, she saw something that made her blink furiously. Twice, to make sure she wasn't seeing things! Surely, surely she was!

But she wasn't. There it was, plain as day! June's mouth went quite dry, and she whirled guiltily at a sudden noise behind her as though she had been caught cheating by Mam'zelle Rougier! No-one was there. June turned her eyes back to the orchard.

And Betty was still there, leaning close to Alicia. Just as June had thought, her lips were no longer by the girl's ear, but instead pressed firmly against her mouth.

END CHAPTER FOUR

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I don't think there are any particular notes I need to make about this chapter, but if I've missed anything, please let me know :o)

_(Cleaned up and re-uploaded March, 2010. No real changes – just formatting, typos and commas.)_


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER:** All characters and story arcs of the Malory Towers series are property of Enid Blyton, her subsequent Estate, and the associated publishing house. In other words, not me.

**AUTHOR NOTE:** Hello. Thank you for reading – or returning to – this story. I hope you enjoy it. Many thanks also to everybody who has left a review over the years – I really do appreciate them very much and have enjoyed receiving them. I can't quite believe it's six years or so since I last updated this. Not too long ago, though, I stumbled upon an old abandoned folder on my computer, which contained material for this story. I had more or less written what I'd intended to be chapter five and quite a bit of other stuff for later on too. Anyway, long story short, I've decided to have another crack at it. The chapter below is new material, and the original chapter five has been bumped back a bit, so apologies for any inconsistencies in tone, etc, etc.

Please leave a review. All feedback gratefully received. On with the story, which you can rest assured does contain references to girls in romantic situations. :)

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June stared, unable to move. Somehow she couldn't quite take in what she was seeing. At once, her worries about Felicity Rivers and being sent to Coventry and finding Sam flew out of her head. All that remained was the horror of the scene in front of her.

The only time June had ever seen kissing, proper kissing, was once at the cinema, and she had looked away then in embarrassment until it was over. Now she really ought to look away because this wasn't a film, it was real, and it was terribly wrong. Even brash, don't-carish June knew that! Yet somehow all she could do was stare, her mind completely blank and her heart beating as fast as she had ever known it.

She didn't know what she should do, which was almost more frightening than seeing Betty kiss Alicia. After all, June always knew what to do, even when it turned out to be quite the wrong thing. She was used to feeling sure of herself and cock-a-hoop. Whatever would the other first formers say if they could see June now, mute and trembling?

That thought brought June to life again. She wasn't like those babies who couldn't decide whether to have honey or marmalade on toast. Of course she knew what to do! She would stop that Betty Hill kissing Alicia immediately. Alicia would never speak to Betty again and the girl would have to leave Malory Towers in disgrace. The initial shock fading now, June found she quite liked that thought. How dreadful for Alicia to lose her special friend, not to mention the humiliation of why! That would properly pay her back for going to Hilda last term. June's hand flew to the window to set this chain of events in motion, and then she saw the second thing that day that turned her legs to jelly.

Alicia was all but hidden in the long grass, but her hand, reaching up behind Betty's shoulders and pulling her down close, was quite clear to June. It happened in an instant, and then Betty disappeared as well. Only their heads, horribly close together, were still visible. June shrank back from the window and sat down hard on the bed. She suddenly felt as though she had swallowed a lump of coal. Betty kissed Alicia, and Alicia let her. Alicia kissed her back. Alicia liked being kissed by Betty.

No! June didn't want to think about that anymore. If she did, she might honestly open the window and shout something terrible at both of them. Shaken as she felt right now, she knew that would be a bad mistake.

How could they? Was it a joke? Just a bit of a lark? Even that thought made June feel hot and angry. This was the worst thing – unquestionably the worst thing – that she had ever seen Alicia do, and yet June knew that she couldn't tell _anybody_. Nobody must find out. It was rather different than if she had looked out and seen Alicia helping herself to one of Cook's cakes from the windowsill. That would be no trouble at all!

'I'd just go downstairs and say, "How kind of Cook to bake an extra cake especially for Alicia and Betty,"' she thought. Just then, she wished very heartily that she had seen that instead.

June didn't sneak openly, but she was very good at getting her cousin into trouble all the same. Her aunt may have given her a long look, but it would be worth it to hear Alicia being ticked off. No, this time she couldn't do that. That was the one thing June did know with absolute certainty. Alicia was doing something so dreadful, so _serious, _that June had no idea what would happen if anybody did find out.

With that in mind, once again she was in the position of not knowing what she should do. It was a grown-up problem, she realised with a start. That's what made it so difficult. If she had seen a mere kiss on the cheeks, or even a brush of the lips, she could have dismissed it as soppiness. It would've been something to make a sly remark about and watch their faces burn, but it wasn't like that at all. Alicia and Betty were doing grown-up things that they oughtn't be doing even with boys, let alone with _each other_!

June stood and walked to the door, being very careful not to look out of the window as she went.

Downstairs, she found her aunt in the drawing room writing a letter. She looked up as June came in, and smiled pleasantly.

"Settled in, dear? If you're hungry, I daresay Cook has some biscuits she can give you with a cup of tea."

"No, it's all right," June said shortly. She sat in one of the armchairs and began fiddling with a cushion tassel.

Mrs Johns put down her pen and looked at June. There was something not quite right about her. She was quiet and seemed lost in thought, which was not at all like her. If June went quiet, it usually meant she was sulking about something. Was it possible she resented her aunt's advice about making friends at school? It was more than likely with June, but seeing her now, Mrs Johns felt that wasn't it. She didn't seem sulky, just preoccupied.

"Well – if you've nothing else to do, perhaps you'll do something for me," Mrs Johns said, picking up her pen again. June looked up, her eyes narrowing, and her aunt had to stifle a laugh. Yes, there was the sulky expression she knew so well! Perhaps that's all it was after all.

"Go and ask Molly for the flower basket – she'll know which one I mean. You'll find a little pair of secateurs in it. You know how to cut flowers, don't you? Good! Then cut a bunch for the table - something gay and colourful. There's plenty to choose from in the garden."

June didn't want to go into the garden and pick flowers. In fact, she didn't want to go anywhere remotely near Alicia and Betty just then – and going outside counted as nearer! Still, she couldn't very well say that to her aunt. She would think June was just being a silly first former, running scared of the older girls.

'When that's not it at all,' thought June furiously. "I've just never been more appalled to be her cousin!"

But June kept these thoughts to herself, not even showing a hint of it on her face beyond the slightly petulant expression she already wore. She got the basket with the secateurs and went out into the garden.

The Johns' garden was really very fine. June found herself surrounded by riotous colour on all sides. Roses bloomed heavily in the summer heat. Bells of white campanula trailed over the wooden fence. Daisies and lupins jostled for space, and the air hummed with the sound of bees. Everything about her was peaceful. The sun warmed June's back, calming her in a way that few things could. She decided to take her time choosing the flowers.

There was no sign of Alicia or Betty, which eased her mood somewhat. June wanted to forget the image of the two girls kissing as quickly as possible, and found that she couldn't. She would only just will it away and think of something else when it flittered into her head again. How absolutely aggravating! Eventually June gave up trying to put the scene out of her mind, and instead allowed herself to mull over it.

Any other person might have begun to doubt what they had seen, but not June. Once she made her mind up about things, it simply didn't occur to her that she might be wrong. So she didn't spend her time in the garden wondering whether there was some other way to explain Alicia and Betty's behaviour. Her excellent memory replayed the scene to her over and over, and left no room for ambiguity. It wasn't an innocent kiss between friends, she was certain of it. There had been something very urgent about the way Alicia pulled Betty towards her – on top of her! June scowled furiously, and attacked a small rose bush with the secateurs. Buds and full blooms alike fell as she tried to stop the heat rising in her face.

June had seen soppiness before, of course. In fact, she had half-wondered if Felicity was going to be like that in the beginning. She had been very impressed by June, even going against her precious Darrell to stay friends. The older girl hadn't thought June was a suitable friend at all, but Felicity defended her then. June remembered the peculiar swelling feeling she had in her chest whenever Felicity reported back after one of these conversations. The memory of it was so at odds with what followed that it seemed almost unreal now.

It had been rather nice, she thought grudgingly, having a special friend – someone to save her a seat or share bits of gossip with. In the month leading up to her first term, June had thought a great deal about what sort of friend she wanted – and then she met Felicity. She was quite different from the joking, fearless girl June had in mind, but she was a jolly sort all the same, and thought June was the most fun person she had ever met. June completely forgot all about her ideal friend. Felicity Rivers listened to her stories, agreed with her opinions, and however red she might turn at some of June's cutting remarks, always stifled a giggle. She didn't have many funny or interesting stories of her own to share, as far as June could tell, but that didn't matter. June had more than enough to make up for Felicity's deficit – and she preferred speaking to listening anyway.

Their friendship had ended before June could discover whether Felicity was silly about her or not. The girl had run off to colourless little Susan – and June couldn't imagine anyone being silly about _her_!

She walked to the flowerbed nearest the kitchen window. At once the scent of something sweet wafted out to her, and she noticed for the first time how hungry she was. It would be lunchtime soon, but the thought that she could not escape Alicia and Betty at the table somehow dampened her enthusiasm.

Was June the sort of person that other girls were silly about? This new thought struck her profoundly, making her tip the basket. Half of what she had gathered spilled out onto the lawn. _Oh, dash it!_ June was fed up with flowers. She clicked the secateurs shut and sat down where she was. She had never actually considered that there were types of girls that one might be soppy over, and types that one wouldn't, but somewhere at the back of her mind was a half-formed consciousness of the fact. It was true that some people were always at the centre of things. June was one of these – and she _did_ like the extra attention, even when it earned her the wrath of her mistresses.

She picked at the grass around her. If June and Felicity had stayed friends, would Felicity have tried to kiss June? Perhaps not now, but at some unknown point in a year or two? June could hardly believe she was thinking it. Without her meaning it to, the image of Felicity pulling her close, as Alicia had Betty, stole into her mind. The girl flamed and shook her head violently as if she might dispel it. She suddenly felt furious again.

'This is all Alicia's fault!' June raged, roughly scraping the crushed flowers back into the basket. Half of the stems she had cut too short, and wouldn't be suitable for an arrangement anyway. She threw them away angrily, but they were light and floated gently to the ground, doing nothing to ease her temper. At that moment, she dearly wished for a lacrosse ball that she could throw very hard at Alicia's head!

Alicia was the one doing terrible things. She ought to be feeling queer and uncomfortable, not June! Why, June didn't have so much as a close friend, so she wasn't even remotely in danger of following in her cousin's footsteps. Yet somehow this thought simply made her feel more irritable.

Was Betty the sort that girls were soppy about? June frowned and pulled at a piece of loose weave in the basket. Was it Alicia who had gone soppy over Betty, had kissed her first? Seeing the pair together, June somehow didn't believe it was their first kiss, even if she did know nothing about that sort of thing. It was simply a feeling she got, instinct rather than fact – the facts being rather too scarce in this case.

Alicia and Betty were very alike. June could have listed their flaws until she was quite hoarse, but curiously, soppiness would not have been among them. Perhaps that was why she knew it was more than a bit of starry-eyed sentimentality.

A burst of laughter interrupted her thoughts. Deep male laughter and then voices.

_Sam and the others!_

June was so relieved that she quite forgot the telling off Sam had given her last hols. She wanted to whoop. At last – someone exciting and fun! They would save her from the horrifying merry-go-round of thoughts in her head. She could spend her time playing badminton and cards with them, and forget all about Alicia and whatever she was up to.

The girl rushed over to the group as they came through the gate. The three boys greeted her warmly and clapped her on the back. June grinned as they teased her about being taller and prettier now she that was at public school.

"Don't be idiotic," June retorted, but nothing could hide the look of delight on her face.

"Time for lunch," declared Roger, sniffing the air. "I say, that smells marvellous. I think I shall skip the main today and have two helpings of pudding instead."

June opened her mouth to tease him when another unexpected voice rang out from behind.

"Have you been doing that all term? Dear me, we shall have to widen all the doors in the house before much longer!"

There were shouts of laughter. Alicia's dark eyes sparkled as Roger turned good-naturedly towards her and stuck out his tongue. Nobody minded a jibe or two when it was holidays and gloriously sunny.

All around June bubbled laughter and amicable chatter, but she couldn't bring herself to join in now. Alicia had spoilt it.

'Just like she spoils everything,' June thought angrily. She couldn't stop a scowl coming to her face, though nobody noticed. June scowled so often and with so little reason, it was too much bother for the others to remark upon it!

She watched Alicia and Betty walking together. Everything about them looked quite normal. They were talking happily about something that June couldn't catch – with the boys booming around her – but it was clearly not intimate. Alicia cackled at something Betty had said and clapped her friend on the shoulder. June held her breath, but the gesture was no different than if anybody else had done it. The hand slid away again without hesitation. Seeing them walking and talking so casually, June would never have guessed what they had done that morning.

Suddenly she realised that she was staring at the pair of them, and that Alicia's eyes had slid across to meet her own. The older girl looked amused as she waited to hear what June had to say.

Well, she wouldn't speak to either of them! June turned away and hurried inside. As far as she was concerned, lunch was long past due.

END CHAPTER FIVE

1) Sam, Dick and Roger are Alicia's three older brothers, according to Betty in _First Term_. As Alicia et al are about to go into the fifth, I should imagine only one at most can still be at school.

And I think that's about it. I hope to post the next one in a couple of weeks or so. Thanks again for reading.


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER:** All characters and story arcs of the Malory Towers series are property of Enid Blyton, her subsequent Estate, and the associated publishing house. In other words, not me.

**AUTHOR NOTE:** Thank you so much to those who left a review – it really made my day and I'm grateful you took the time! :) I sincerely hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm afraid my Blytonspeak is a bit shot, so apologies for that. There's sometimes a temptation to write something short and ridiculous along the lines of, "And then Sally slipped her XX inside and Darrell XX at once! How marvellous! The girl looked on in delight as XX and..." Yet somehow I feel that would cross a very terrible line. :)

Right. On with the story.

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It was far too warm to sleep. June had kicked all her covers off, and yet she still felt miles too hot in her cotton pyjamas. The window over the bed hung open, but provided no relief. No breeze came. The air was still and stifling, and did nothing to improve June's already sour mood.

Exasperated, she turned over on the little guest bed once again. The Johns were not mean and the mattress was quite soft, but June had never felt particularly comfortable on it. It was too different from the firm mattress at school, or her own familiar bed at home.

When she was younger, June remembered, she slept on the trundle that pulled out from Alicia's bed. The only two girls amongst so many brothers, their mothers had pushed them together at every opportunity. June couldn't recall much feminine softness on Alicia's part, though. She was every bit as bad as her brothers – and sometimes worse, the taboo of picking on a girl not restraining her. There had been so many rows over the years that June couldn't remember them all – though she did her best, of course. It simply wasn't in June's nature to forgive and forget, and she held onto the little grudges for as long as she was able. And yet she quite forgot all the times that Alicia _had_ offered to share things with her – and how she, June, had refused out of stubbornness or pride.

One holiday, things were suddenly different. The summer after Alicia started boarding school, June arrived as usual and was instead shown to the guest room. Alicia had invited a friend to stay – a slim, tanned girl with hair that fell in her eyes. The pair spent the week giggling together, and June didn't care one bit! She was pleased, really, not to have to bother with Alicia. She certainly hadn't been looking forward to seeing her latest tricks or hearing all about her new school! Instead June spent the hols practising her tennis serve under the tutelage of one of Alicia's brothers. Quick as ever, she improved each day – until she aimed her fine serve at Dick's head, and lessons came to an abrupt halt.

June rolled over again. Would she never be able to sleep? She supposed Betty was sleeping soundly in the trundle at that very moment. It was cosy, and had always put June in mind of sleeping in a canoe. What a delightful bed that would make, with the water lapping at the sides and the bulrushes whispering! June used to pretend that the steady sound of Alicia's breathing was just that. It was comforting, after all, hearing someone else snoring gently nearby. Somehow that sound made June drowsier than anything, and she never had any trouble sleeping in the dorms at school.

Her head felt fuzzy and hot, as though too many thoughts were trapped inside it. All afternoon and all evening, June had brooded over the problem of Alicia and Betty and come no closer to an answer. The memory of the pair in the orchard became frayed and worn, but infuriatingly, no less vivid. How she longed to sleep! Perhaps in the morning, she would have forgotten all about what she had seen. It seemed so unfair to her then that Alicia, the cause of her disquiet, should sleep which she lay restless.

Then June thought of something and sat right up in bed.

Perhaps Alicia and Betty weren't asleep after all. Perhaps they were awake, kissing and holding each other close in the darkness. It was such an obvious possibility that June could scarcely believe she hadn't considered it. Now the more she thought on it, the more sense it made to her. Kissing during the day meant going off to the orchard or some other hidden place, and there was always the risk of discovery. In fact, they _had_ been discovered – by June herself – though Alicia and Betty did not know this.

'I could have made a dreadful fuss,' June scowled. 'Alicia ought to be grateful I'm not a complete silly ass like Susan or Felicity. _They_ would have gone up in smoke.'

June thought this, quite forgetting how her own knees had trembled at the sight of Alicia pulling Betty close.

Things were different at night. Nobody was awake, and it wouldn't have mattered much if they were. The boys would not go into the girls' room without knocking after bedtime, and Mr and Mrs Johns were not in the habit of it either. It was hours since they had all trailed off to bed – June having been allowed to stay up on her first evening – and now the house was very quiet. Alicia and Betty would be quite free to do as they pleased. And they couldn't at school, June realised suddenly, her mind ticking faster than ever, because Betty was in another Tower and they would have no chance.

June now became convinced that Alicia and Betty were kissing at that very moment. The thought burned inside her and she couldn't bear it. She hated to think that they should get away with what they were doing. Surely they thought themselves so clever. Well, June was clever too and she had figured it out!

Then June heard a faint noise. She froze, straining to hear with every fibre of her being. It was gone so quickly that she couldn't quite determine what it was. It might have been a cough or perhaps a magazine falling to the floor. But who on earth would still be reading now?

June swung her feet out of bed and into her slippers, determined to find out. Whatever the noise, she would go and see for herself. She would show Alicia that she wasn't as clever as she thought! The girl took the little torch from her bedside table and slipped it into her pyjama pocket. Then she opened her door as quietly as she was able and padded across the dimly lit hall to Alicia's bedroom. There wasn't a sound. June listened intently for a minute or two, but to no end. Everything was still and silent.

She reached out and turned the doorknob with the utmost care. To her relief, the door swung open several inches on a well-oiled hinge. A faint shaft of light fell into the room and across the lower half of the two beds.

June's eyes darted across unfamiliar shapes until they grew accustomed to the dark. She wouldn't use the torch unless absolutely necessary.

Yes, there was Alicia in the trundle! June's breath caught, and then she let it go in surprise. Alicia was in the trundle all right, but Betty wasn't! She was curled up in Alicia's bed, one hand trailing over the side. Both girls gave all appearances of being fast asleep. Their breathing was heavy and regular, and their bodies quite immobile. So it seemed the noise hadn't come from here after all. June was astonished. She had been so certain of what she would find that she couldn't quite believe she was wrong.

Why on earth were they asleep? It didn't make sense. Earlier they had kissed in a snatched half-hour and yet now, with all the time in the world, they were motionless and separate. June stared, not at all sure what the dull feeling in her chest might be. She tried to recapture that sense of surety, the conviction that propelled her from bed to this spot, and couldn't. The reasons seemed flimsy and silly now. She felt foolish. Secret meetings – what nonsense! Alicia and Betty were asleep. It was she, June, who had been thinking of kissing in the night.

That thought made her turn quickly to go. She wanted to get back to her own bed and forget she had ever left it. Unfortunately, she brushed the doorframe and caught the little torch in her pyjama pocket. It was propelled out at high speed and clattered noisily to the ground.

_Blow, blow and bother!_

Without turning around, June knew that she would have woken Alicia, if not Betty. Her cousin slept lightly, like a cat, and sprang awake just as easily. June was much the same.

She retrieved the torch and looked up to see Alicia rubbing her eyes.

"June?" she whispered. "What are you doing?"

It was fortunate for June that she never had difficulty inventing a story when required. She did so now, affecting a pained expression.

"Oh, Alicia. Didn't mean to wake you. Have you an aspirin? I've the most fearful headache."

On the bed beyond, Betty shifted and murmured. Alicia looked towards her, though June couldn't see her expression through the gloom. Neither girl spoke for a moment. Betty's stray hand flexed suddenly, reaching for something unseen, but she didn't wake. Once she was still again, Alicia turned her attention back to June. She pushed her sheet away and stood up.

"Yes, come on. I'll get you something. I thought you were quiet this evening. It's the heat, I expect."

Alicia found the aspirin for June and stood yawning beside her as she swallowed the little tablet. It was bitter and she made a face.

"You'll be all right," Alicia said, rather unfeelingly. She stifled another yawn. "Go back to sleep. It'll be gone in the morning."

June didn't say anything and they started back to their rooms. She had barely spoken to Alicia – or Betty – since their exchange that morning. After all, it was only quarter of an hour later that she had seen the Kiss. She had gone out of her way to not be alone with either of them, which was easy because they hadn't sought her company either. After supper, they played cards with the boys, and she hadn't needed to say anything in particular then either. It felt strange, being so quiet – rather like being invisible. June couldn't imagine how people like Susan even knew they existed if they were as quiet as that all the time. Better to have someone glare at you than behave as though you weren't even there!

In truth, she did want to speak to Alicia. She wanted to take her aside and ask her what she meant by kissing Betty. Then she thought of how Alicia might sneer at her for being a stupid first-former who didn't know anything, and the hard little stone in her chest grew bigger. It wouldn't be so difficult if she knew exactly what she might say – exactly how to phrase the horror she felt at what her cousin was doing. Then Alicia would understand all right, and she would feel wretched about it. But the words wouldn't come to quick, clever June, and she couldn't bear the thought of stuttering and turning red under Alicia's superior gaze.

They came to June's door then. Alicia went to pat her young cousin's shoulder as she departed, but June squirmed away. She wouldn't be touched by the same hand that clung to Betty. She didn't want any kindness from Alicia when she was so utterly furious with her. In the dim light of the hallway, though, and with Alicia already drifting towards sleep, it was impossible to tell whether she registered the slight.

June waited inside her own darkened doorway as Alicia disappeared into her room. There was the unmistakable creak of the trundle bed springs, and then all was quiet once more.

She returned to bed feeling confused and angry.

Across the hall, Alicia climbed back into the little trundle rather gingerly, for the springs had a tendency to squeak. She needn't have worried, however, because Betty's eyes had already fluttered open.

"What was all that about?" she murmured. Her voice, heavy with sleep, made Alicia's stomach do a little cartwheel.

"Just June wanting an aspirin."

Betty's hand, which had been retracted since Alicia left the room, slipped out from under the sheet once again. Alicia wondered if Betty might touch her, and stiffened slightly, glad that her pink cheeks couldn't be seen in the dark. But the hand moved no closer and hung limply over the bed as it had before.

Alicia straightened her sheet, ignoring the slump of disappointment in her stomach.

'Don't be such a mutt,' she told herself. 'Most nights you don't even see one another, let alone hold hands or anything silly like that.'

"Sleepy?" Betty whispered.

Alicia nodded and yawned. The tiny rush of excitement that Betty might caress her had died, leaving only tiredness behind it. She didn't catch the regretful look that passed across Betty's face because it was gone before Alicia turned back to her.

"Are you comfortable?" she whispered.

"Very," Betty replied. "But I should have been just as comfortable down there, you know."

Alicia settled back into the trundle, leaving the sheet loosely over her lower half.

"I wanted you to have the bed," she said.

Unbeknownst to her friend, Betty smiled and hugged herself tightly in the dark. Alicia's words made her feel warm and happy. Too much lately – Betty could admit that to herself – she wondered what Alicia thought of her. They had always liked one another best, but things were changing slowly. Sometimes it seemed as though she and Alicia were close like no two other people could be. The feeling of it was sweeter than anything Betty had ever known. Better than sneaking out of Tower unnoticed. Better than the look on Mam'zelle Dupont's face after a trick. Better than a perfect dive off the high platform at school.

Other times, though, she would catch a new expression on Alicia's face – one that she hadn't seen in four years of being her friend. She didn't know what it meant, only that Alicia was looking at her whenever it appeared. Betty had taken to teasing Alicia when she saw that face – or kissing her, if they were alone. Alicia always kissed back, but a tiny grain of doubt had begun to form in Betty's head. In the West Tower dormitory after lights out, she sometimes found that a dreadful panic would grip her – only for a few seconds, but strong and real and frightening. The thought would suddenly come to her that perhaps the kissing didn't mean anything to Alicia – that it was just an extension of the wicked things they did together, and no more. For her part, Betty was becoming aware that if one day Alicia should turn her lips away and say that she didn't want to kiss any more, the likelihood was that she would bawl her eyes out as she hadn't in a very long time.

Hearing Alicia's simply spoken words seemed to ward the panic off. She had thought of Betty and wanted to do something particular for her. The tingle it produced in Betty's stomach was pleasantly unsettling. As ever, the urge to unsettle Alicia rose up with it.

"Well, I can't say I object to sleeping in your bed, though I'd sooner you were in it with me!"

She grinned wickedly, unable to hold the glee inside. What a shame she couldn't see Alicia's face. She was sure to be red as anything after that! Betty didn't dwell on the fact that not too far beneath the joke, she most certainly meant it.

The trundle squeaked, and then to Betty's surprise, Alicia stood up again, this time next to the bed. Her eyes sparkled in the darkness as she took hold of the sheet.

"Shove over, then, idiot," she whispered – and Betty shoved over at once. Alicia slid in beside her. They lay there for a moment, not touching and not speaking. Then Alicia rolled onto her side towards Betty and hugged her tight, and they stayed that way, quite ignoring the fact that it was too hot to be pressed together.

Alicia yawned into Betty's neck, sending a wave of gooseflesh across it.

"We'd better not sleep too late, all the same," she murmured.

Betty chuckled quietly and nodded. She couldn't imagine it possible to fall asleep at all with Alicia curled around her, but of course, she very quickly did.

END OF CHAPTER SIX

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**NOTES:**

Thank you for reading! Please, please do drop me a line and let me know what you think. I'm working on another one-shot, so that will likely appear before the next chapter (not the XX one, I hasten to add!) so it'll probably be same time again, update-wise.


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER:** All characters and story arcs of the Malory Towers series are property of Enid Blyton, her subsequent Estate, and the associated publishing house. In other words, not me.

**NOTE:** Thank you again to those who have left feedback after reading. I really, really appreciate you taking the time to do so. Hope you enjoy this one – it's a bit longer than usual.

On with the story.

* * *

Alicia and Betty were not the only friends to see one another that summer holiday. It was quite common for the girls to invite their particular friend to stay for a few days, or often longer in the upper forms. Belinda went to stay with her good friend, Irene. The two scatterbrains caught the train to London to attend an art exhibition. Afterwards, both were so inspired – Belinda to draw and Irene to compose – that they promptly became distracted and caught the wrong train home. After several failed attempts to right their mistake, Irene's father ordered them to stay put and drove quite some distance to collect them in the car. On their return, Irene's mother declared, not for the first time, that the pair would not be allowed out unsupervised in future if they couldn't even manage a train timetable by themselves.

Bill, who had become such firm friends with Clarissa in those last weeks of term, gladly accepted the invitation to stay with the Carters. The two horse-mad girls spent their days riding out across the countryside, taking picnics and sharing stories. Neither Bill nor Clarissa had ever had a proper friend before, and each privately marvelled at her good fortune to have met someone so perfectly matched.

Sally had joined Darrell at her house the week before, and would stay for another week yet. Now they sat in the small conservatory together, tucking into fresh jam buns and sandwiches for tea. It had been a splendid hols so far, Darrell thought. She sighed happily, and took a big bite into a bun.

This caused Sally to laugh out loud. Darrell looked at her in surprise.

"What is it?" she asked, not able to see anything even faintly amusing.

She felt even more surprised when Sally reached to brush a finger across her cheek, and held it up for Darrell to see.

"Jam," the girl said, eyes twinkling.

Darrell groaned. "Gosh, I can't seem to eat them with doing that. How do you put up with me?"

"I don't know," Sally said, chuckling. "I manage somehow. Actually, I think it's rather sweet."

Darrell felt her cheeks warm ever so slightly. Sally picked up a jam bun, and used one of the butter knives to cut it in half. Darrell sighed. That's what she ought to have done.

"Rather reminds me of Daffy," Sally went on.

Daffy was Sally's sister – bright, bonny and only four years old. Darrell picked up a knife and followed Sally's example.

"Well, much as I adore Daffy, I think I'll be more careful," she declared, her cheeks still hot. "I don't know that it's quite as sweet when you're going on 17."

Luckily, Darrell was saved from further teasing by the appearance of Jane at the door with a letter. She looked at the envelope, and recognised the messy scrawl at once.

"Oh, it's a letter from Alicia," she exclaimed in delight.

Sally looked up with interest.

"Really? Did you write to her, then?" she said.

"Yes, I sent her a postcard from Devon – like the one I sent you."

Darrell fumbled with the envelope and pulled out a thin folded letter. It unfurled in her hand into a single sheet. Nothing else was hidden inside – no word game or limerick, as Alicia sometimes sent. She couldn't help feeling rather disappointed. At the least, Alicia usually wrote a couple of pages about the merry goings-on of her household, with vivid descriptions of who had done what. Darrell looked forward to her amusing letters, and often chuckled over them for days.

Well, there was no point in moping about it. Alicia probably had her hands full with the wretched June. How glad Darrell felt, knowing _she_ would not have to put up with the girl that hols. The thought of her narrow squeak in that regard put her in better spirits at once.

"Rather different from Irene's affair, isn't it?" she laughed, holding it up so that Sally might see. "Did I show you hers? She wrote pages and pages – and can you believe, not a sum or treble clef to be seen!"

"Good old Irene," said Sally fondly. She picked up the teapot and hefted it in her hand. "Feels like there's enough for another cup each. Shall I pour?"

_Dearest Darrell _[Alicia wrote]_…_

Alicia always wrote "dearest" – as a stunt, Darrell supposed, though it was rather a nice way to begin reading. She didn't register that Sally had spoken until she noticed the cool around her. Or rather, she thought she did. When she glanced up, Darrell saw her friend looking at her patiently as ever, the teapot still in one hand.

"Oh, you asked me something, didn't you? Sorry, Sally! You know what I'm like when I read."

Sally smiled. "Yes, I know all right. Did you want more tea?"

Darrell nodded, and returned her eyes to the paper. Alicia hadn't written much – only that she thought composing a letter might relieve her boredom. How like Alicia to actually say so! She dropped the flimsy paper onto the table, and reached for another bun.

"What does she say?" asked Sally.

"Not a great deal, actually – just that she was bored. Says 'hallo' to you, of course."

Sally nodded in acknowledgement. Darrell flicked open the letter again and scanned it once more.

"Oh, and she's waiting for Betty to arrive."

"I expect she's there by now," Sally said. "When was that sent?"

Darrell looked, and saw that Sally was probably right.

"I can't imagine Alicia's poor mother has a moment's peace in the hols – Alicia and Betty, and all of Alicia's brothers too."

Sally grinned. "Must be awfully nice to have brothers, though. Alicia and Bill have got ten between them – imagine that!"

Darrell shook her head firmly. "Imagine is all I want to do, thank you! One sister is quite enough for me. She keeps my hands full as it is."

Sally followed Darrell's gaze to where Felicity sat in the garden with their mother. The girl was talking excitedly about something or other, and Mrs Rivers nodded patiently between sips of tea.

"It's all off between Felicity and June, though, isn't it?" she asked.

Sally had a most determined look on her face just then, and Darrell felt a sudden giddy fondness for her. Sally cared as much for Felicity as if she were her own sister. The thought made her feel happy and warm. And of course, Felicity adored Sally no end – but then, Darrell couldn't think why anyone wouldn't.

"I jolly well hope so," she replied. "I know June's terribly clever and witty and all that – well, she's rather like Alicia, but not so likeable, somehow. I don't know why."

"No, nor I," Sally said.

Her face was smooth as she picked up her cup and drank the tea. Darrell wished she could be like that. She never knew what Sally was thinking – and then the girl would come out with some incredible piece of insight, just like that. She said things that you _knew_ were right as soon as you heard them – and she did it by watching and thinking, not rushing about in the middle of everything.

Nothing came now, though. Darrell supposed she didn't have anything particular to say about June and her potential to be liked. Well, what could you say? She was an impossible kid – and they had all agreed heartily on that last term. She returned to the matter of her younger sister.

"I think Felicity will stick to Susan now. They seem awfully firm friends – she was here at the start of the hols, you know. She's such a good kid."

"Yes, she is, isn't she?" Sally agreed.

Sally's eyes shone with warmth, and Darrell could see that the girl liked Susan very much. She supposed she knew that already, but sometimes she _could_ read Sally all right, even if doing so required a bit more effort. Sally was a wonderful friend, and worth it, after all.

Seeing the two younger kids together had reminded her of things she had almost forgotten – how it was when she and Sally first became friends. All the new and remarkable facts they had discovered about one another – and how she had chattered on to her parents about Sally this and Sally that, just as Felicity did now with Susan.

Sally was now so part of her normal life that it was odd to think she had ever been without her – and she felt sure that Felicity would feel the same about Susan before too much longer.

"Susan rather reminds me of you, actually," she said.

"Me?" Sally looked astonished. "Why on earth should she do that?"

How funny that Sally shouldn't see the resemblance between the two of them! But Darrell saw it all right, and she drew breath to explain.

"Well, you're both frightfully decent," she said earnestly, "and you both always seem to know the right thing to say, especially to me and Felicity."

Sally reached for another sandwich, and grinned at her friend, though her cheeks were beginning to pink.

"Gosh, are you writing a catalogue of virtue?" she teased.

Darrell grinned back, completely remorseless. Well, why not? Much better a catalogue of virtue than of people who sneaked about midnight feasts or pretended to have bad hearts to get out of exams! And it wasn't just about important things. Sally would never write a letter, for instance, to relieve her own boredom without a care for the person reading it.

"You're both completely reliable, and you always take the time to help others when they need it," Darrell went on, "And what's more, you're a marvellous antidote to people like Alicia or June when they get out of hand!"

Finished, she looked at Sally triumphantly. The other girl shook her head.

"You make me sound too pi for words!"

She laughed, but there was something not quite right about it. Darrell frowned. That wasn't what she meant at all!

"You're not a bit pi," she said. "You're just jolly sensible – for which I'm eternally grateful. I should have lost my temper so many more times without you to keep me grounded."

"I'll take your word for it, then," Sally said. She sounded completely normal then, and Darrell felt relieved. She must have imagined something silly, that was all.

Sally stood and stretched.

"Enough fine words. How about a spot of badminton?"

They had set up a net the day after Sally arrived, and played each evening before supper. It was rather early, though, and the sun still very warm. Darrell also felt she had probably eaten one jam bun too many.

"I think I'd rather let my tea settle a bit first, if it's all the same," she said apologetically, for she knew how Sally loved to play.

Sally paused a minute, and then nodded, smiling.

"Yes, you're quite right. Now that you mention it, I don't particularly want to leap about either."

They had all but demolished the sandwiches and tea buns. Although Darrell didn't feel like badminton, it occurred to her that a good walk would help ease the feeling of having overindulged. She stood too and made the suggestion.

"Jolly good idea," Sally agreed.

Then went into the garden to tell Darrell's mother where they were going, then slipped through the gate to the lane. It really had been such a warm summer that year, and Darrell was glad of the cool elms overhead.

Sally too glanced up at the trees, but didn't say anything. Darrell felt the same unease from earlier creep back. Sally was so jolly and sensible, but at times a queerness would come over her that Darrell couldn't work out.

She wasn't like Darrell, who too frequently lost her temper when provoked. Nor was she like Alicia, who, if not as straightforward as Darrell, nevertheless left those around her in no doubt of her displeasure when roused.

With Sally, it was more an uneasy roll in her stomach that Darrell recognised than anything to do with the girl herself. Like a sixth sense that told her all was not quite as it ought to be. What could be the matter, she wondered. Sally had first seemed a bit funny when Darrell started saying how marvellous she was.

"I say, I didn't embarrass you before, did I?" she said, brow furrowed.

Sally looked around in surprise.

"Why, no, not really. After all, it was just between the two of us." She nudged Darrell, and grinned. "I shouldn't like you to start waxing lyrical in front of your parents, though."

Darrell laughed and slipped her arm through Sally's.

"You're too late on that account, I'm afraid. I've been waxing lyrical, as you put it, for years now!" she said, thinking again of how Felicity chattered on about Susan.

Sally looked away, and Darrell scolded herself silently. Gosh, she was being dreadfully soppy this afternoon. Sally was so matter-of-fact and not at all given to grand words or gestures. When she said something, she said so simply, and meant it wholeheartedly. Yet Darrell meant it wholeheartedly too – she was always _thankful_ for her friendship with Sally, especially when she thought of how easily it might never have been.

"Good to have the School Cert behind us, isn't it?" she said, determined to steer the conversation back to firmer ground.

Sally nodded. Darrell felt the girl's arm tighten against her own, and knew she had said the right thing.

"Yes, I'll say. I bet you've done frightfully well. Your mother and father will be pleased."

Darrell laughed sheepishly. "I don't know about that. It seemed dreadfully difficult at the time. It felt like I spent half the English exam trying to remember the poem, let alone write about it! You'll do well, Sally."

The other girl made a small, self-deprecating gesture with her free hand.

"We'll see."

Darrell grinned and patted her arm. "Of course you will – and so shall we all, I expect, for all that we worried over it."

"Not Gwen," said Sally thoughtfully. "Nor Alicia."

Darrell stopped then, aghast. She had quite forgotten about Alicia's collapse during the exams.

"Golly, that's right! Surely they won't keep _Alicia_ back, though. Any other time, she would've outdone us all!"

But the thought occurred to her now that Alicia could be kept back after all. There might be no other way for her to take the exams. How awful that would be! Alicia was the first person she had met at Malory Towers, and had always been there, term in and term out.

"I can't imagine school without her," she said aloud.

Sally nodded slowly, and they walked on without speaking for a moment, each lost in her own thoughts.

In truth, Sally couldn't imagine school without Alicia either. There had been times, though – and she despised herself for it – when she had tried very hard. In their second and third years at Malory Towers, in fact, it was something she thought about often. A sequence of events formed in her mind where Alicia went Too Far and Miss Grayling promptly expelled her. She lay awake in the dorm and pictured it all in fine detail, right down to the look of disgust on Darrell's face when the extent of Alicia's misdeeds were revealed. Sometimes the story included Betty's expulsion, but more for the sake of thoroughness than any real animosity towards the girl. She posed no threat to Sally. Betty Hill didn't appear to have a conscience, and therein lay both her appeal for Alicia and the lack of it for Darrell. Whereas Alicia moved between doing the right thing and doing as she liked with a fluid, practiced ease – and Sally couldn't help wondering whether Darrell secretly wanted to as well.

The fantasy grew stale when she found she couldn't quite believe it. She couldn't bring the events properly to life because she simply couldn't imagine how it might really be without Alicia. She was too permanent a fixture. Sally had altered details, tried the dream with Alicia moving to West Tower to join her friend. Then she would be a laughing, merry figure seen only in classes, or perhaps at Break. Over time, the bonds between Darrell and Alicia would stretch and snap, and she wouldn't have to feel guilty about how much she hated Alicia at times.

In third form, Darrell ticked her off for being silly about it. "She only wants my company because she doesn't have her friend here. You'll see – once Betty comes back, everything will be like it always is."

Not willing to risk a serious row with Darrell, Sally didn't voice the response in her head. She wanted to scream at the frustration of it, though. She knew exactly why Alicia sought out Darrell. Solitary pursuits were about the only thing the girl didn't excel at – she always wanted someone to giggle or scheme with, and Darrell was Alicia's default when she couldn't have Betty. That much was plain to anybody! Sally's unhappiness stemmed from something else. Darrell _did_ have her friend back, so why did _she_ still want Alicia's company? Why was she so willing to upset Sally for Alicia's sake? That one thought clogged her mind so completely that eventually she couldn't bear to think of it any more. All she could do was hate Alicia for revelling in her misery.

But she didn't really hate Alicia any more. Or at least, only sometimes and only a little bit. She was past all that now. She must be, surely. She had to be sensible. It wasn't as if there was a reason to be jealous. Darrell always said that Sally was her special friend, so why should she care if the girl still listened to Alicia with shining eyes? She didn't want to care so much about Alicia Johns that she hated her. Next term she would be a fifth-former. She had conquered her jealousy with Daffy, whom she now truly adored, and she'd almost done it with Alicia.

It would be easier, she thought, if the sneaking suspicion didn't linger that if Betty ever left Malory Towers more permanently than her absence in third form – and Sally couldn't believe the girl truly needed almost a whole term to recuperate from whooping cough! – then she would lose Darrell to Alicia at once.

Sometimes when she thought of that, she found the familiar threads of the expulsion fantasy weaving their way through her mind once again.

Still, the chances of that grew slimmer with each year. Going into the fifth, Alicia was too old for the type of behaviour that might jeopardise her future. She contented herself with cutting the weak to shreds and bending the rules to suit her own purposes.

Besides, Alicia was small fry compared to the other horror looming at the back of Sally's mind. Only two more years, and they would leave Malory Towers for good. She and Darrell might say goodbye, promise to write – and then _she_ would receive one-page letters that grew more and more infrequent. And she would have to bear it, because she had never been the jolly, natural sort of girl, like Darrell, who would write pages and pages anyway, regardless of response, and eventually win over the other person by sheer force of personality. Sally couldn't bring herself to impose or draw attention. She couldn't demand the things she wanted like Alicia. She wrote "wooden little letters" – oh, would she never forget those words! – even when it was not what she wanted to do.

She hoped – and it was, in fact, blurring from hope into plan – that she and Darrell might go off to college together. Alicia had mentioned that she and Betty were considering St Andrews. Alicia was quicker than Betty, of course, but both were sufficiently clever that acceptance to the college of their choice was inevitable.

"Why St Andrews?" Darrell asked with interest.

Alicia and Betty had laughed and exchanged one of their looks – the ones that always seemed to make Darrell impatient, and which certainly made Sally uneasy. Then Alicia said something about distance being an advantage when you went to college, and they'd all laughed. Privately, Sally thought distance from Alicia and Betty would be an advantage – but she didn't really mean that. It was just an old reflex.

"Well, I don't suppose it will come to that," Darrell said now, drawing Sally back from her thoughts and into the elm-lined lane.

She meant Alicia staying back in the fourth form, of course. Sally nodded.

"No, I don't suppose it will," she replied, voice as untroubled as ever.

For in her heart, Sally had already felt the well of hope that Alicia might be left behind, and quashed it as best she could. There was no point in wishing for things like that – expulsion, failed exams, Alicia consigned to a place where neither friendship nor duty could reach her. Things like that didn't really happen. Sally simply needed take a deep breath, and remember that _she_ was Darrell's friend. She had been for such a long time that it was silly to still fret about it.

They neared the village then, and she saw Darrell's face light up suddenly. Sally looked around, and spotted an ice-cream man outside the grocer's shop.

Darrell pulled some coins from her pocket.

"I know we've just had tea, but I could do with something cold, couldn't you?"

Sally shook her head. "I haven't brought any money with me."

"Don't be a donkey," laughed Darrell. "What flavour would you like?"

Sally said strawberry, and Darrell hurried over to the man. She smiled and chatted to him in her friendly, natural way. A wave of shame came over Sally then, because her first thought at seeing Darrell's brightened face had not been pleasure, but rather annoyance that it was directed somewhere other than herself.

_Bother!_ Sally straightened up and pushed her shoulders back. She couldn't allow that horrid little feeling to take hold. She didn't want it to. She wasn't in the third form dormy now, hearing Alicia whisper something indiscernible – and apparently humorous – to Darrell in the next bed. All of that was in the past, kids' stuff, and they weren't kids any more – neither Darrell, Alicia, Irene nor herself. Of this, Sally felt acutely aware recently, though she couldn't quite put her finger on why.

Darrell returned with the ice-creams, and Sally stored those thoughts away for later. If she didn't pull herself together, she would spoil their lovely afternoon. Fingers tangled over passing the cone, and Sally's stomach jolted suddenly. The sensation left her breathless, and she felt her spirits lift unaccountably, as if by some invisible magic.

'Ice-cream makes everything nicer,' she decided, savouring the delicious cool of it in her mouth.

Of course, she was being perfectly idiotic! They would spend another lovely week together, and soon enough, they would be back at Malory Towers for another term of excitement and fun. It didn't matter if Darrell spent more time chatting with Alicia in the common room than she did practicing serves with Sally. Darrell was very well liked, and in the fifth, it would be churlish of Sally to begrudge others her company. Anyway, she wouldn't want to, not really.

But then Darrell grinned, and her blue eyes twinkling back at Sally made all those sensible thoughts rather less convincing once more.

END OF CHAPTER SEVEN

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**NOTE:** Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed this. Whether you're following the story, or have just read this chapter, _please _do leave feedback. Reviews keep the lines of creativity – and motivation – flowing in an onwards direction. :)


	8. Chapter 8

**DISCLAIMER:** All characters and story arcs of the Malory Towers series are property of Enid Blyton, her subsequent Estate, and the associated publishing house. In other words, not me.

**NOTE:** Hello again. First, thank you to everyone who has left reviews. They really do motivate me to keep writing, so thank you very, very much. :)

My apologies for the dearth of updates. This chapter was basically written months ago, but I just hadn't had time to finish it. Same goes for the next couple of chapters as well. I'll try to update as often as I can this year, but that may not be saying much, I'm afraid. (Sadly, I've become the kind of busy where I have to count time in the shower as down time).

Enough blather. On with the story.

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For the next two weeks, June kept her word and did not bother with Alicia and Betty. Not that she didn't _think_ about what they were doing, of course. Try as she might, June couldn't help remembering the scene in the orchard and wondering about it. However, she kept out of their way, much to Alicia and Betty's surprise, and declined their invitations to Langford Hollow, even when they asked quite sincerely.

She practiced her tennis serve, which was now really very good, and thought about what mischief she might cause next term. This was something she could discuss with Alicia's brothers too, and she liked hearing their tales of tricks past. The irritated, cross expressions they often wore around June would vanish, and there would be great guffaws as they remembered the look on this or that master's face. Secretly the girl enjoyed these moments very much, and the warm feeling they evoked inside her – that the boys thought enough of her to want to share their secrets with her. Well, scheming with daring boys was much better than having a silly, soppy friend, after all!

But June couldn't curb her unruly tongue for long, and so it was in one of these conversations about tricks that she next got into trouble.

She had taken one of her trick booklets into the garden. Alicia and Betty had disappeared off for another day of swimming and fun at Langford Hollow. June couldn't contain the sneer that crossed her face when she thought about what they were almost certainly doing there.

Then she shook her head, annoyed with herself for thinking of it. What on earth was the matter with her? Why should _she_ bother if Alicia and Betty went off to Langford Hollow? June ought to be glad to be rid of them! Yet thinking this did little to ease the roll of apprehension in her stomach.

It seemed to June that she had felt ill all hols – jittery and sick. She found herself looking over her shoulder as if _she_ were the one with something to hide, when all the time Alicia and Betty were carefree as anything!

June made up her mind then to find a secret place of her own. She wanted to go where her red ears and scowling face might be hidden from the inquisitive eyes of aunts and housekeepers.

In the warm, drowsy afternoon, the shade of the greenhouse looked cool and inviting. She settled herself against the glass and took out the little book. Quite a few of the tricks were ones June had already bought, but she was determined to find something new and outrageous. If she sent off for a trick now, it would arrive at Malory Towers in the first week or two of term – by which time June might need it to win back her schoolfellows' favour.

There was a contraption which fitted under the clothes and could be inflated by pressing a little button. It made the wearer look suddenly bloated and fat. June circled the advertisement with interest. That would certainly be a lot of fun.

"Scheming for next term already?" came the voice of Alicia's eldest brother, Sam.

June looked up in surprise, and he grinned back at her.

She nodded, passing him the booklet, and was pleased when he sat down beside her. June liked Sam immensely. He was quick and bright, even if he could be rather stuffy about things like answering back. At least she knew where she stood with Sam, which was altogether different to how she felt about Alicia at the moment.

Sam looked at the balloon contraption and chuckled.

"That's super. Your mam'zelle – that's who you always play tricks on, isn't it? – will have a fit. She'll think you've had too much fizzy drink or something."

He flipped through the little booklet, commenting as he went.

"Oh, that would never work – the teacher would see the strings right away! That one's not bad, but I shouldn't think anyone would be _really_ frightened. This one would work well in winter."

June listened and gave her opinions too. It was awfully nice to talk and scheme with another tricks-mad person; but just as she savoured the moment, something else washed over her. Her pleasure was spoilt by a sensation she had been ignoring for days – and now she felt it acutely. For no matter how fiercely she told herself she didn't want Alicia's company, deep inside, June had felt strangely disappointed that hols.

Usually, once they had all settled in and hostilities died down, she and Alicia would have some good fun talking about mischief. Alicia would tell her about the tricks she played at Malory Towers, and give June some tips for jokes at her own school.

This was the first holiday since June had joined Alicia at boarding school. It would have been fun to sit around discussing the particulars of tricks for certain mistresses – would Mam'zelle scream louder over an earwig or a spider? Was it worth risking a trick on Miss Potts, just to see the expression on her face? Now she couldn't bear to. She didn't want to hear Alicia and Betty's advice – because what if she agreed with them? June didn't want to agree with anything either of them had to say ever again.

Sam finished flipping through the booklet and handed it back to her.

"Well, your balloon one's about the best in there, I should think."

June didn't say anything, but quietly she was delighted. Sam would have picked that one too. Why, she didn't need Alicia after all!

He chuckled again. "I say, did I ever tell you about the Swap Trick we played on old Toggles, where two of us pretended to be one other?"

June shook her head, keen to hear.

"It was quite simple. You don't need any paraphernalia for it at all – just your own books. A boy in my class, Symonds, and I played the trick. You have to work as a team, you see. I sat at his desk and he sat at mine. I parted my hair down the middle like his, and he swept his back.

When Toggles noticed we were in the wrong seats, he told us to change back immediately. Well, of course, we made out we didn't know what he was talking about! Everybody else backed us up too. It ended in old Toggles thinking he was quite barmy and forgetting to give us any prep. Marvellous trick!"

June's face, which had been eager and interested when Sam started talking, now looked doubtful. She would have dearly liked to play the trick – but there was one problem. Who on earth liked June enough that they would risk punishment to play it with her? Everyone loved watching tricks, but it was quite different to actually participate – especially if it required complicated acting, like this one.

"That's awfully good," June began. She liked Sam's idea very much, and didn't want him to think she was pooh-poohing it. "But you need another person, don't you?"

Sam looked half-impatient. "Well, you're not the only first former, are you?"

She scowled. "Of course not, but none of those babies will do it. They're all scared of putting a foot wrong – holier than anything!"

"What – all of them?" Now Sam looked quite astonished. "Gosh, that's terribly bad luck. Haven't you a friend that will do it with you?"

"No," she said shortly.

Sam stared at the sulky little girl and sighed. How fun June could be when it suited her – and what hard work she was the rest of the time! Much as Sam would have wished otherwise for her, he could quite see why she didn't have a particular friend. She was brazen and conceited, and too hard for words.

Alicia was hard too, of course, but she was also forthright and had always been popular – and anyway, she had Betty for a friend. Betty didn't mind at all about Alicia's daring. In fact, Sam suspected she went a good measure further herself. She was always happy to risk a ticking off for the sake of a good trick, and was jolly and lively too. What a pity Alicia and Betty were going into fifth form. They could have played the Swap Trick all right!

Of course, Sam didn't say all this to June. He had tried many times – as had Alicia and the others – to impress upon June the benefits a change in attitude might bring about, and it simply made her more stubborn than ever.

"That's a shame," he said instead. "It's much easier planning tricks with a friend. My advice is that you find someone in your class like Betty. Then you can chum up and have some good fun."

Sam made an effort to not sound as though he were preaching to June. He was very surprised when June went red and scowled even harder.

"If I did want a friend, someone like Betty is the last person I'd choose!" she huffed.

Sam frowned, and went to stand up. His patience was coming to a very short end. Really, June was the limit!

"Suit yourself. Betty's a hoot, though. I rather think you're jealous because you don't have a friend like Alicia does. Bit childish of you, I must say."

At this, June felt furious. She didn't like being criticised by Sam, especially for being childish. June loved to think of herself as grown-up and so his comment cut very deep.

"Betty isn't as much fun as you think she is," she said angrily. "I think that if you knew some of the things _I_ know, you wouldn't like her very much. In fact, you wouldn't speak to her or even allow Alicia to have her in the house!"

Of course, this was a very serious thing for June to say, and Sam couldn't believe that she would joke about it. She certainly didn't look as though she were joking, with her red cheeks and clenched jaw. He leaned back against the greenhouse again, and looked at her intently.

"If you have something particular to tell me, June, then let's hear it. Otherwise, I can't stand all this talking about people behind their backs."

Sam didn't believe June outright, but he felt he ought to find out more all the same. The girl had a very strange look on her face that he had never seen before.

June took a deep breath. She really felt rather scared. She so badly wanted to share the secret with someone that it was possible she might just blurt it out to Sam. Of course, that would cause the most dreadful row! Sam might not believe her – and if he did and Betty were sent away, June would have to face Alicia's cold-burning rage. She wished she knew what to do. Suddenly she desperately wished she _did_ have a friend – even treacherous Felicity Rivers – to discuss it with instead.

"What if I said that Betty was doing something dreadful and getting Alicia involved as well?" She tried to speak jauntily as usual, but her voice sounded queer and strained.

Sam looked at June in surprise, then his mouth hardened in a tight little line. All at once, June wished that she hadn't said anything at all.

She was not one to shy away from confrontation – quite the opposite – but she wanted no part in this matter. The thought of Alicia and Betty kissing made her deeply uncomfortable in a way that she wasn't used to. She hated seeing the sly looks that passed between them, the wicked grins, and wondering about the hidden meaning to them.

Had they always looked at one another that way? June couldn't remember. Every past encounter had been coloured by this new and terrible knowledge.

Sam looked very grim, but he spoke gently to her.

"What is this something dreadful, June? You tell me, and I'll decide what's to be done about it. If it's serious enough, _I'll_ go to my mother and father, so don't worry about that."

She hesitated. Half of June still desperately wanted to share the secret with Sam. Partly because she hated being the only one to know, and partly because then she wouldn't have to think about what to do any more. She would be free from it and everything would go back to how it used to be. She could spend the hols immersed in tennis and tricks and swimming, and not worry another minute about Alicia and Betty!

And yet another part of her didn't quite believe things would go back to normal. She was so tempted to tell Sam about Alicia and Betty, but a very insistent voice inside told her to keep quiet. There were too many things that could go wrong. It would be like playing a trick and not knowing which mistress was taking the class or how the joke worked. The worst case saw June dressed as a clown in front of Mam'zelle Rougier, and sent to the Grayling with a recommendation for expulsion!

So, to Sam's amazement, June suddenly shrugged her shoulders and stood up.

"Nothing really," she said, managing to sound cockier than she had before. "Just wondering if the Blessed Betty could do any wrong in your book, that's all."

Sam's face darkened as he drew his own conclusion as to what had transpired. He looked really very angry, and June felt scared. She decided she didn't want to hear what he had to say – it was sure to be most unpleasant!

She turned to go, but Sam stopped her.

"Wait a bit, June. Do you mean to say that all that talk about Alicia and Betty was just you playing the fool?"

June flushed hot. Sam's words made her feel small and silly. She looked down and nodded mutely.

Sam dropped her arm at once. When he spoke, his voice was low and severe.

"You might not care much for anything, June, but I do. Because of your silly talk, I was seriously worried that something dreadful was happening. I don't suppose it matters to you, does it?"

June wanted to say that it wasn't silly talk and that he was right to worry, but she couldn't. She knew he wouldn't believe her now even if she _did_ tell him the whole story. Bother Alicia! Bother Betty! She was getting rowed over this after all!

"If you don't want a spanking with your own hairbrush, you'll meet me in the west paddock at ten sharp tomorrow morning. Since you've nothing better to do than make up silly stories, you can jolly well run laps for the rest of the hols. Perhaps that will give you something to do other than being tiresome!"

_Hairbrush? Laps_? Surely not! June's looked up at him, aghast.

"But that's not fair!" she cried.

Sam glared back icily. He looked so like Alicia just then that June had to look away. She couldn't bear to look at him.

"Neither is making up stories. High time you knew that, June. Well, what's it to be?"

"I'll run the laps," she said, hardly able to get the words out.

Sam turned on his heel and walked smartly away. June raised her head and stared after him furiously. The greenhouse no longer seemed cool and inviting – now the air felt cloying against her skin.

She snatched up the trick booklet and marched out. If she didn't think Sam might still be in earshot, she would have slammed the door as well.

"They all stick up for one another," she thought angrily. "That's the trouble!" In fact she was closer to tears than she cared to admit. "Even if I did tell the truth about Alicia, I'm sure that would all be my fault as well!"

END CHAPTER EIGHT

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Thank you for reading, and hope you enjoyed this latest instalment. Hope to get the next part up before too long – thanks too for your patience.

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	9. Chapter 9

**NOTE: **Another six months, another chapter. Thank you very much to everyone who has taken the time to leave a review – I really appreciate them all, and I'm glad you're still enjoying the story.

This fic (and others) is also archived at my LJ (which you can get to via my profile thingy). Just mentioning this now because if the rating for this story changes at some point, I'll likely post abridged chapter versions on and the full chapters there. So, we'll see what happens.

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With Betty's arrival, of course, the days that had so dragged for Alicia began to slip by very quickly. And how lovely it was to laze about and not worry when the next bell might ring, or the next mistress appear around a corner! They were free to do as they pleased, and they made the most of it – days filled with swimming and tennis, walking to the village and scavenging blackberry thickets on the way home. Now only a week remained until the start of the new term, and much as she loved Malory Towers, Alicia mourned the end of the summer hols.

'If only it could last just a bit longer,' she thought as she set off down the lane with Betty late one morning.

The pair were headed to Langford Hollow for yet another picnic, having spent a fair portion of the summer there. With its funny little grove and deep pool, it was a peaceful spot away from the eyes of parents and older brothers – and pestiferous younger cousins!

'There's June,' grinned Betty, as they passed the Johns' far paddock.

Alicia looked and a satisfied smile broke over her face. Yes, there was June alright! Running the loop of the paddock as she had every morning for much of the holidays. In the shadows of a tree, Alicia could make out the shape of her eldest brother, Sam. Even at that distance she was sure she could make out the smirk on his face. He looked up and spotted the girls then, raising a hand in greeting as they passed.

In fact, June was running laps as punishment for cheeking Sam. Neither Alicia nor Betty knew exactly what had been said, but Sam was very angry with the younger girl. He had given her the choice between a spanking – 'With her own hairbrush too!' Alicia crowed to Betty – and running laps of the paddock. It seemed June had not hesitated in choosing the latter.

Alicia said, 'Serves the little beast right. She idolises Sam – it will do her the world of good to be put in her place by him.'

'I'll say!' agreed Betty. She hefted the picnic basket in her hand and laughed. 'I could have kissed him when he told us about it!'

Something in Alicia prickled at that, ever so slightly. It was an unfamiliar feeling, but reminded her uncannily of a burr caught in her blouse. She might have pondered over it, but the opportunity to tease her friend proved too great a distraction, even against the cold slip and churn of her stomach.

She said playfully, 'Oh, yes?' and looked sideways at Betty. 'Well, don't hold back on _my_ account, please.'

Betty laughed aloud and glanced back at her friend. Alicia caught dark eyes gleaming at her behind the unruly fringe, but at once they were gone again. Betty looked back at the road.

'If you imagine,' the girl began, 'even for an instant that I truly wish to kiss your brother, then you are quite, quite mad!' There was a pause as Betty shifted the picnic basket again. 'And besides, I shouldn't ever want to kiss _anyone_ besides you, idiot.'

With that, Betty glanced up at Alicia again, eyes still gleaming, mouth curved in a wicked grin.

Alicia knew that look very well. It meant that Betty was waiting for her to get angry or flustered. On the occasions she found herself face-to-face with Miss Potts in the North Tower dining room, her friend looked the exactly the same way. And Miss Potts was always very angry!

But Alicia didn't feel angry at all. In fact, had she still been aware of the uncomfortable prickle, she would have noticed its swift departure. In its place was another feeling – almost like a sudden giddiness. It made Alicia feel strange and happy all at once.

They walked in silence for a bit after that. Betty pushed her hair from her eyes, but it was no good – her fringe simply wouldn't lie any other way. Alicia reached across to help, only to suddenly become very aware of her own hand. It seemed silly then, leaning across and touching the other girl's hair – and yet she wanted to so much.

'Idiot,' she scolded herself, dropping her arm rather abruptly. 'You've done it hundreds of times before – done much more than smooth her hair!'

Alicia thought of the way she pushed Betty's fringe back from her face when they kissed. Sometimes, when she held Betty's face tightly, her fingers would curl into the soft hair at the nape of the girl's neck. It was a nice feeling, she decided, with a rush of affection. Light and smooth against her skin.

When had she first noticed that? She couldn't say, but then, the kisses had changed over the past few months. The realisation struck Alicia so profoundly now that she wondered she hadn't seen it before, and yet she _hadn't_, somehow.

Before, she hadn't gripped Betty tightly around the shoulders and neck. She hadn't fumbled with hands that were utterly _useless_ with either too many, or too few, fingers. Alicia felt the familiar impatience wash over her as she called to mind those moments.

'Like some awful heavy-handed hobbledehoy,' she thought, annoyed. 'Anyone should think I hadn't a shred of dexterity at all!'

Alicia was not a clumsy girl, but she often found that however she wished to hold Betty – whatever perfect embrace her quick mind conjured staring out of the window during prep – simply would not work in practice. Her arms would be too long or Betty's shoulders too high or there would be some other frustration. And so she was reduced to pulling Betty close and holding her as tightly as she could whilst their mouths met.

Sometimes Alicia wondered where the kisses came from, really. She knew how they had started, of course. Alicia had a fine memory, and anyway, events such as that afternoon would be difficult even for Irene to forget! But each kiss since that time seemed another small step towards Something. What the Something might be, however, was another matter entirely.

The girl tossed her head, irritated. She didn't like feeling uncertain about things – she wasn't used to it. Her quick, clever mind saw reason and solutions where others missed them. To not be able to do the same now about Betty struck her as quite ridiculous.

She didn't know why her friend had first leaned across and kissed her that day. It had been quite unexpected, and yet didn't feel as strange as it ought. At first, she thought it must simply be a lark – another of Betty's mad jokes – but the look on her friend's face afterwards didn't quite allow that to be true. Nor did the pleased sound she made when Alicia stopped gaping and roughly pushed their lips together a second time.

And why had she done that? Plainly, Betty had meant to kiss her, and though Alicia would have been perfectly entitled to recoil or cry out, she hadn't done either. Hadn't _wanted _to, in fact. The only thing Alicia could recall was a rather pressing need to show her friend that it was _alright_. She wasn't cross or anything silly that that. It could happen again, if Betty felt so inclined, and she had wanted to make sure the girl understood that because then it very likely _would_ happen again…

And then Alicia very nearly stumbled. Well, gosh, she _had_ thought that, hadn't she?

Not just a lark, not something wicked and surprisingly nice, but more than that – something wanted. Her mind seemed to tick with a new and sudden clarity about the thing, and she thought very hard on it.

For no matter how much she adored the absolute wickedness of their secret, their disregard for anybody else, at the time that hadn't occurred to her at all! Nor had she acted simply to match her daredevil friend, to see the look on _her_ face when Alicia caught her unawares – and yet she recalled wanting to see Betty's face quite badly.

The thought of Betty sprawled across her lap, brown tunic crumpled, made her feel warm and giddy somehow. She liked seeing Betty's playful grin from the next desk in classes, knowing what was on the girl's mind. She liked the way Betty coloured under her gaze, and that she could do that to Betty in a way no-one else could. All of it added to the joyous – and utterly _maddening_! – feeling that had been quietly building for some time now. In fact, lately she might have said that Betty were always on her mind, if not for the fact her stomach always reacted first.

'As though I were almost nervous at seeing Betty,' she thought. 'And I'm not – not even a bit!'

It had always struck Alicia as quite absurd that anyone could be afraid of her friend.

'She can scare the kids all right when she wants to,' the girl thought affectionately, unaware of the smile pulling at her lips. 'But so should any good fourth – no, _fifth_-former. How on earth can an older girl command any respect when she's as soppy as the first-formers?'

Alicia thought of Gwen and Mary-Lou and sneered inwardly. They were scared of Betty and Alicia too, in their own ways. Gwen openly feared and despised them for their unpredictable behaviour, but Mary-Lou was little better.

'Oh, she's improved,' the girl allowed briefly, 'but she still tiptoes around like we might snap her up at any moment. Fancy being such a timid little thing!'

Alicia could not imagine being so meek as Mary-Lou, and was glad of it. She would rather be too hard than too soft. Though it was her worst failing – her absolute hardness – the years at Malory Towers had taught Alicia some valuable lessons too. Her illness during the School Cert had shown her more than anything how it was to be weak and slow.

'Absolutely horrifying!' she thought, remembering her alarm at finding the exams difficult. The experience left her with considerably more patience for others – but not enough for someone as insufferable as Gwendoline Mary.

And Betty was so unlike all of them! Darrell and Sally and Irene were jolly company, but Alicia always looked forward to seeing Betty. She looked forward to the first sleepy smile at prayers in the morning. She was always glad to see her friend's shadow as she waited by the North Tower stairs – and she grinned in pure delight whenever Betty appeared beside her unexpectedly in the halls or tennis courts or _anywhere_.

Alicia felt her head swim, just for a second. It was close to the feeling she had experienced shortly before fainting, though with one remarkable difference. As horrified as she had been then, fearing her brains had abandoned her, she now felt equally thrilled at the mere thought of Betty. It was only with the greatest effort that she was able to stop herself from grinning like an idiot all day.

They turned off the main road then, and started down the little path towards Langford Hollow. It wasn't long before they reached the large hawthorn that hid the entrance to the grove, and slipped easily past it.

At once, Betty set down the heavy basket and stretched with a loud 'Ah!' She kicked off her sandals and rushed into the pool, and Alicia quickly did the same. The cool water felt heavenly around their hot, dusty legs. How terrible to think that in a week, their fun at Langford Hollow would be far behind them!

'Golly, I shall miss this,' Betty remarked, wading further in.

'Yes. I hate the thought of pigging it in the swimming pool with the others next week,' Alicia said, but her eyes were sparkling. Nobody could honestly be disappointed with the splendid rock pool at Malory Towers!

Betty waded further still until her frock began to float in the water. Alicia laughed and came a few steps after her, grabbing her friend's hand.

'Look out, idiot! You'll be sopping in a minute.'

But Betty didn't look in the least worried. Instead she smirked and quick as a flash pulled Alicia forward into the water. Alicia let out a yell as cold water washed around her neck. The edge of the pool may have been shallow and warm, but the middle was quite icy!

She dragged herself upright, wiping her eyes, to the sound of Betty's delighted giggles. The girl was clutching her stomach, and for all her fooling, remained considerably drier than her victim.

Alicia changed that immediately as she caught Betty from behind and dragged her backwards into the water.

Once their laughter subsided, they found it quite pleasant floating that way. The grove was peaceful and still, the silence broken only by the occasional bird or chirruping insect. It occurred to Alicia that they would need to hang their clothes up shortly, else they would be damp on the walk home. Somehow, though, that seemed of lesser importance than drifting through the water with Betty's head on her stomach. She could feel the weight of it as she breathed in and out, slightly too hard for comfort. The sun made its way from behind the trees, and shone lazily across the pond. The more she thought about how they would need to break apart soon and get out of the water, the more Alicia didn't want to.

'How absolutely rotten,' she thought, skimming her hand under the surface, 'that the things you ought to do are never the things you wish to.'

She was about to articulate this to Betty when the other girl spoke.

'Been awfully good not to have June under our feet. Tell you the truth, I quite thought we'd do nothing else but tell her to buzz off all hols.'

'Mmm,' Alicia replied, thinking how _glad_ she was about that. 'Amazing how the little beast is stand-offish as anything, but always wants to tag along.'

'Well, but she hasn't this time,' Betty said, returning to her point.

'Are you complaining?' Alicia asked. She grinned, remembering the look on Betty's face when her mother had announced June's arrival.

Betty shook her head – Alicia felt the movement of it against her. 'Not at all. If she were here, I couldn't do this, could I?'

And with that, Betty rolled off Alicia, pulled her close and wrapped two arms about her waist. The feel of Betty's body – wet and soft and fitting perfectly with her own – made the air puff suddenly from Alicia's lungs, sent a little tingle from her throat to her stomach. She held Betty as tightly as she could, not kissing, but close – closer than they had ever been. It was probably rather awkward, just standing that way, but Alicia found she didn't care. All she could do was hold Betty tight, curves pressing, and concentrate on breathing normally.

That is, until she realised Betty was trembling. Alicia drew back, frowning.

'What's the matter – cold already?' she asked.

Betty's hair was slick against her head, the unruly fringe swept back at last; it made her look strange, unfamiliar, almost. She shook her head slightly, still holding firm to Alicia's waist.

'Not a bit,' she replied. Her voice was queerly light.

The girl raised her eyes to meet Alicia's, and there was something in them that made her stomach flop over uncomfortably then. More than simply the spark of daring she was so used to. Betty's eyes seemed darker than normal, but, golly, it was the _uncertainty_ in them that shocked her. The way Betty's eyes searched her own as though she were looking for something there.

Alicia hadn't a clue what her eyes might be telling Betty at that moment.

All at once, the part of Alicia that had allowed her to explain away the kissing and hugging and butterflies in her stomach dissolved to nothing. She suddenly felt very convinced that Betty's thoughts were not so far from her own – that she was struggling to understand all the same things. Hardly surprising, when they were so alike, but shocking too in its own way. Because if they were both wondering the same thing, well, it meant there was something to wonder _about_, didn't it? They stared at one another, both quite still, and Alicia more aware of Betty's hands on her waist than anything in the world.

'I…' Alicia began, and then fell silent once more. The urge to speak rose inside her, but not what she might say. She bit her lip, not at all sure what she wanted to do. Only two things seemed certain then – she cared more for Betty than she knew how to say, and she wanted Betty to know it.

Fortunately, she was saved from some mortifying, first-formerish confession. The other girl reached up and very gently pressed her cool pink lips to Alicia's. It was impossibly soft - uncharacteristically soft, even – that motion against her mouth. Beyond the lips, Betty's tongue was warm, wet, and insistently, maddeningly slow. Sparks tingled down through her stomach again; the sensation was warm and delicious and terrifying, and she found herself pulling Betty as close as she was able, trying to stop her legs shaking at the feel of the other girl against her.

She wasn't aware of having moved her hips until she felt Betty pressing back. Her stomach tightened, and her breath hitched into the kiss. She felt so terribly _good_ then, even as some other part of her brain registered a dull sense of alarm at the action. She could feel herself growing flushed, and…

The rushes slapped loudly on the bank. Both girls sprang apart, lurching around in the water to face their intruder, and then Alicia saw – with relief so thick she could _taste_ it – that they were still alone. No-one had seen them. It had simply been a moorhen or vole or something moving in the undergrowth.

Abruptly, Betty began to wade towards the shore. Alicia stood in the shallows for a minute, willing the jelly from her legs.

'We'd better hang these things up,' Betty called over her shoulder. Alicia nodded, and started after her at last.

They hung their wet dresses across the branches of the hawthorn, and rolled out the rug in relative silence.

In the twinkling of an eye, everything had changed. The slippery, nebulous feelings that had lurked for some time became no more comprehensible to Alicia, but she knew they were there now – they existed, and Betty had them too. She wasn't simply feeling fanciful or out of sorts. Something had happened inside her, and she didn't know what to do about it.

She felt unaccountably queer now, wearing only her bathers.

Neither spoke very much as they laid out the picnic either. Instead, it seemed to Alicia to be a conversation of glances. She would feel Betty's eyes upon her, and would glance up only to catch them darting away again. And as she stared at Betty, trying to grapple with the unsettling feeling in her stomach, Betty would make to look up again, and Alicia would suddenly find the boiled eggs fascinating. On and on it went until Alicia wanted to scream at the absurdity of it.

It was absurd. Idiotically, ridiculously _absurd_.

Betty was her friend, and she refused to tip-toe around her like a frightened kid. So, with greater effort than ought to have been required, she stretched her trembling arms, and then leaned back on the tartan square.

'Do you know, I'm in rather a difficult spot just now,' she said, tone light and conversational.

Betty looked up, and perhaps she was startled by the sudden attempt at normalcy, but her mouth hung open for a moment before she replied with an, 'Oh, yes?'

Alicia nodded lazily. 'Yes, I can't seem to stop staring at my friend. Can't think why.'

Their gazes met, openly, easily, like they always did, and suddenly everything was alright again. Betty's eyes gleamed behind the fringe, and Alicia just managed to stop the delight rising in her throat and choking her completely.

Betty grinned. 'You don't say! Could it be that your friend is extraordinarily beautiful?'

Alicia swatted at her with a stray sandal. 'You _are_ an ass,' she said, but her laughter gave her away.

They tucked into the picnic then – tongue sandwiches and tomatoes and boiled eggs – setting aside the paper-wrapped cake and small pot of jam for their tea. Alicia had the idea to cool their lemonade in a shaded part of the pool, but the afternoon was very dry, and in the end, neither had the patience for it. They drank it as it was, warm and cloyingly sticky, and laughed at the faces they pulled. And then Alicia _did_ sink the half-empty bottle in the muddy shallows, declaring that it was to stay there until tea!

Eventually, they could eat no more, and flopped lazily back onto the rug. From there it wasn't such a great leap for Alicia to rest her head against Betty's thigh, for her to lean into warm, tanned skin and ignore the hint of bone digging at her neck.

'Don't fall asleep, will you,' Betty murmured. 'Frightful bore.'

Alicia stifled a yawn. 'I won't.'

Something messed through her hair, and then Alicia felt the curious scrape of bitten-down nails, of soft, rounded fingertips against her cheek.

'It'll be harder in the fifth,' she thought, and the idea, startling and unbidden, was enough to edge away the sleep. Quite suddenly, long months stretched before her, filled with darning and extra prep and hardly ever seeing her friend. The cold prickle from earlier crept back. For all her teasing of Darrell in the common room, it was now Alicia who found herself wondering, for the very first time in her life, whether she would enjoy next term at Malory Towers at all!

END CHAPTER NINE

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